Harry Potter and the Terminator
by dragmon
Summary: Have you ever imagined what would happen if we crossed Harry Potter's world with the Terminator movies? If Skynet was related to Voldemort, if Harry was leading people in the future and a Terminator was sent back in time to kill him? Then here's the story
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Prologue

28th August 1998

Harry Potter was standing above the wounded body of Lord Voldemort with his wand raised. The end of the war was near. Harry was about to end the life of the madman, fulfilling the prophecy and ridding the world from this evil monster.

It has been a long and perilous war. Harry lost his parents when he was only a baby, then his godfather, Sirius, two year ago, then last year his beloved headmaster, the most powerful wizard in the world, Albus Dumbledore. But Voldemort was responsible for many other people's death as well, and the destruction of countless families.

Harry and his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger have spent the last year hunting for Voldemort's Horcruxes, objects in which Voldemort kept fragments of his soul. They had to destroy them first so that Voldemort himself would become mortal again. There were six Horcruxes, and there was a part of Voldemort's soul even in Harry himself, which has been transferred there by accident, when the Dark Lord tried to kill Harry as a baby. But Harry managed to extract that bit from himself, and they destroyed every other Horcrux as well, the last one was Voldemort's snake, Nagini.

Arranging a final battle between him and Voldemort wasn't exactly hard, as Voldemort was hunting for Harry as well. They finally met on the grounds of Hogwarts, both accompanied by a group of followers; in Voldemort's case, his servants, the Death Eaters, and with Harry came the Order of the Phoenix and his friends. However, no one interfered in the battle of the two, it was just between them.

After a long and extraordinary duel, Harry managed to injure and disarm his enemy, and he was now lying crumpled on the ground.

"Well, Potter, it seems that you have eventually learned some things about magic. But your efforts are fruitless, you can't kill me."

"Whatever you say, Tom, you are mortal again, and now you will pay for all the crimes you committed," replied Harry. He only needed to say two words, and his enemy's life would be over, but it was still hard to commit murder, even if he knew what kind of a creature Voldemort was.

Voldemort wasn't afraid of death. He had to admit that Potter was a lot more powerful than he expected, but he couldn't kill him. He knew that they were destroying his Horcruxes, but Nagini has never been a Horcrux. His last Horcrux was something completely different, something Potter and his pitiful friends have never found, nor will they ever find it. With that still existing, he couldn't be killed. Voldemort silently praised his briliance regarding the last Horcrux, and waited confidently. He will get out of here. He will face Potter later again, and he will win that time, and eventually he will become the ruler of the world.

"Come on Harry, you can do it!"

"That's just what the bastard deserves."

Harry heard the voices of his friends encouraging him. He finally set his mind.

"Avada Kedavra!"

The green light left Harry's wand and rushed towards the Dark Lord's body. The last thing Voldemort knew when the light reached him was that something went terribly wrong, the Horcrux wasn't protecting him. A last wave of overwhelming panic, and then he knew no more. Lord Voldemort was dead.

29th August 1998

Miles Dyson sat in front of the main computer in a secret military base, and panic was slowly growing inside him. What the hell was going on with Skynet? It was not supposed to be able to do such things. How can he fix this?

Dyson was a computer scientist working for Cyberdyne Systems, and two years ago he developed Skynet, which has become the US army's defense system. It was the most advanced computer program and network, that controlled every military weapon, from aircrafts to navy ships, from gun factorys to nuclear rockets.

And today he was woken at 3 in the morning by someone from the army telling him that Skynet was not functioning properly, they can't control it. He was taken to the main controller and started working immediately, and what he found was most disturbing. He tried every secret code and password to regain control of the system but they were useless. He even tried to directly reach some crafts that Skynet was controlling, like nuclear submarines, but that didn't work either. Skynet didn't react to any human order anymore, which was supposed to be impossible.

However, Dyson managed to break into Skynet's system to see what sub-programs were running that caused the malfunctioning. And what he saw really shocked him. The files he found weren't really files, they were more like human visions or memories. There were plans about metal soldiers called 'Terminators' and plans about destroying mankind by a nuclear strike. There was something about humans being inferior and also something like hatred.

What was going on? This was not the Skynet he created. While it was the most advanced system ever, it didn't work like this. It was still a computer, and no matter how clever it was, it lacked human intelligence. It wasn't supposed to be able to feel human emotions, and make plans of destroying the world like this. Actually, these things were considered to be impossible, at least with the present knowledge of science.

Yet there it was, Skynet became a computer system with a human mind, and it was unfortunately the most clever and most evil mind that ever existed.

Suddenly alarm bells started to sound everywhere. Dyson looked up to a monitor and what he saw made him freeze with terror. Signs indicated that many dozens of nuclear rockets have been launched to destinations throughout the world.

New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo and many other places were about to become ruins in a matter of minutes, and there was nothing that could be done. The world of mankind was destroyed. We have reached the Jugdment Day.

Hogwarts, 2029

Harry Potter sank into a couch in the room that was once known as the Gryffindor common room. For many years now, there hasn't been such a thing as Gryffindor, nor a Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The war against Skynet destroyed every institution of the human civilization, whether magical or Muggle. Actually, the castle of Hogwarts itself has been in the hand of Skynet since the early years of the war, when its Terminators could occupy it without real human resistance. Skynet has been using the place as headquarters for the last two years, after the resistance got hold of its other main base, which was a former military base in the USA. Harry and his army have just gotten back Hogwarts after a monumental attack, and they managed to eliminate the computer system that was Skynet. After 32 years, they won the war.

The wizarding world has just started celebrating the downfall of Voldemort, and Harry has just rekindled his relationship with his girlfriend Ginny, when terrible news came from the Muggle world.

Nuclear bombs were fired and they destroyed the whole world. Almost half the population of Earth died that day from the explosions, and afterwards the planet became so polluted from radioactivity that natural life was extremely reduced. The amount of dust that got into the air from the explosions meant that there wasn't proper daylight ever, they had to live their lives in semi-darkness.

And soon the Terminators arrived. Wizards would never have thought that Muggles can make anything that could be dangerous to them, but these machines were. No spell could stop them, and their weapons, although basically Muggle guns, were so powerful, that they killed wizards easily. But these Terminators didn't care whether you were pure-blood, Muggle-born or Muggle, their goal was to kill every human being. No one knew who sent them or why, but they were the most dangerous and terrifying things anyone has ever seen.

But people were not going to give up that easily. Still together after the final battle with Voldemort, the Order of the Phoenix rallied around Harry once more, and this time the remaining Death Eaters joined them, too. They began to fight against the machines, and to try and find out who was behind this madness, which was a thousand times worse than Voldemort's reign of terror.

Soon, Harry managed to organize an army around the world, including Muggle soldiers and wizards as well. After five years, a research group led by Hermione Weasley, wife of Ron, developed a special power-ring which, when attached to wands, modified spells so that they could destroy the Terminators. After that, the number of human casualties decreased considerably.

But the Terminators were just the soldiers, the real enemy was Skynet, but no one knew what Skynet really was. Harry and the other wizards learned from Muggle scientists that it was a computer defence system of the army, but they also told them that its behavior and actions were actually impossible. So, they were not much closer to destroying it, and as it was a Muggle inventions, Harry was quite sure, that the ultimate solution against it must be a Muggle thing, too.

In the meantime, they continued to fight against the machines, and they managed to liberate some places of Earth, and they could slowly begin to rebuild life there, but still nowhere was really safe from stray Terminators. And they were no closer to finishing the war than at the beginning.

Everything changed when after a very succesfull operation they broke into the headquarters of Skynet. It was a former military base where Skynet kept a laboratory and factory as well. So the resistance destroyed thousands of Terminators and other equipment, and they also learned about every detail of Skynet's inventions, which made the fight against them a lot more effective. But the most important thing was that they found Miles Dyson there, who was a prisoner held to aid Skynet in perfecting itself and constructing new and more powerful Terminators.

After interrogating Dyson and learning everything he knew about Skynet, Hermione finally figured out how Skynet was built and how it worked. Unfortunately, Hermione was killed shortly afterwards, along with Ron, but she was able to pass on the knowledge to Harry. So the human side finally had the key to winning the war.

And today, after a long battle, the wizards led by Harry reoccupied Hogwarts and found the main controller of Skynet in the Chamber of Secrets. With a combination of Muggle technology and some very specific magic which they have used in the war against Voldemort before, Harry managed to shut down, and destroy the Skynet system forever.

Harry rested his head in his hands. He was tired, very tired. He was 49, and he spent the last 35 years of his life fighting, since Voldemort regained his body in that graveyard. He lost almost everyone he ever loved. He had no parents, no godfather. His wife Ginny was killed ten years ago in one of the heaviest Terminator attacks, one that was aimed directly at killing Harry, after a traitor had given his location away. Two of their children, James and Lily, just as Harry's parents, were also killed in that attack. His third child, Albus was hopefully still alive, but he was somewhere out there fighting, and Harry hasn't heard of him in the last six months. His two best friends Ron and Hermione, who also meant a lot to Harry, were also dead for two years now. They had two children, Rose and Hugo, but only Rose was alive, and she was part of Harry's elite group, and she was there in the castle as well, having participated in the final battle.

Of course, the fight wasn't truly over yet, as the Terminators were still out there. Unlike the Death Eaters, who immediately surrendered after Voldemort's death, Skynet's destruction won't stop these machines from doing what they have been programmed to. Which was killing people. So true peace would only come when every single machine was destroyed or deactivated, but at least there won't be any new ones, and they will be far less organised than before. So it could be said that the war was over.

Or maybe not yet?

"Sir, sir, come quickly!" Harry was shaken out of his brooding by Williams, one of his soldiers. Harry instructed his men to explore the whole castle, and look for signs of Skynet's activities. Obviously they have found something, and Harry could only hope that it was nothing too serious.

"What is it, Greg?" he asked warily.

"Sir, we found an artefact in the Room of Requirement, and Dr. Peterson insisted we must call you immediately, because its very important."

"Dr. Peterson? But he is a Muggle, how can he tell anything about a magical artefact?"

"I don't know, sir, but we found one of those computer things, and he found a record of Skynet's latest activities, and it is related to that cupboard we found there."

"Alright, lets have a look," said Harry, and they started walking quickly to the Room of Requirement. Harry had no idea what could have made his men so worked up about a cupboard, but he trusted them enough to believe it was something important.

When they arrived at the room, and Harry saw what was there, he started to feel really uneasy. What he saw was the vanishing cabinet Draco Malfoy used to smuggle Death Eaters into Hogwarts, an act that led to Dumbledore's death back in Harry's sixth year. Only this time the cabinet was attached to a number of computers, and a jungle of wires and cables were running around it, and it was glowing bright blue.

"What the hell is this?" asked Harry.

"Well, Harry, I can't tell you that exactly, but it must be in connection with what I've found here," answered Dr. Peterson, indicating the computer he was sitting by.

Harry nodded his head to continue.

"Well, I have found the records of Skynet's most recent research, which involved temporal replacement, and its affect on the course of events. According to the last notes the research was in the testing status, which means that a Terminator was given a mission to test this facility."

Harry couldn't quite understand what the professor was saying, with all the technical slang he was using.

"So what does that actually mean?" he asked the others in the room.

It was Kingsley Shacklebolt, one of his oldest and best soldiers, who answered. "It means that what Skynet did, or at least intended to do was to send back a Terminator through time, to complete a mission which would supposedly change the future, so that he can win this war."

Harry's heart sank. If a Terminator really went back to the past, then there it could do practically whatever it wanted, as no one knew about them anything. So they had to do something about it, or all these decades of fighting would be for nothing.

"Do we know if the Terminator really managed to go through time?" He asked, regaining his voice, and getting back into command.

"Well, the actual time travel device is supposed to be this cupboard here, but I really can't see how it could serve such a purpose in its current state, so we can hope that Skynet didn't have time to finish it," said Dr. Peterson, indicating the vanishing cabinet. Its doors were open and it was completely empty, no wonder the Muggle scientist didn't think it was functioning yet.

"I am not sure about that, professor," said Kingsley in his deep voice. "Harry, do you recognize that cabinet?"

"Yeah, its the vanishing cabinet that git Malfoy used to get the Death Eaters inside." Harry answered, and comprehension suddenly dawned on him. "Professor, this cabinet could originally transport people between another same cabinet. So it only needed to be modified to take people to another time, instead of another place."

Dr. Peterson looked thoughtful. "Well, in that case these circuits here," he pointed at the cables running around the cabinet, "could most probably make these necessary changes."

Suddenly another scientist in the room stood up and ran towards Harry. "Sir, I have been examining the energy consumption of this room, and about four hours ago I have found extremely high values. It probably means that this time cabinet thing has been used then."

Harry slowly let his breath out. "Alright. So now we know that a Terminator has been sent back in time. Do we know what time he arrived?"

"That is displayed on the cabinet. It's July 1991," answered someone.

"And did we find out what his mission is?"

"Yes, I have found it in this report," said Dr. Peterson.

"So what is it?" asked Harry impatiently.

After a long silence, Dr. Peterson finally answered. "To kill you, Harry."

Harry could have laughed on the look of everyone's faces. He couldn't say he was surprised. So there was a Terminator who wants to kill him, when he is only eleven. Well, it will have to stand in the queue behind Voldemort, then, Harry thought bitterly.

But the situation was not funny at all. July 1991 was just before he learned he was a wizard. He was completely defenceless back then. If the Terminator succeded in killing him, then both Voldemort and Skynet would survive, and the world would be completely destroyed.

However, this triggered hope in Harry as well. If some people could go after the Terminator to defend him, than they could do much more. They could make sure that Skynet was never even constructed, and this war didn't happen. If he himself went back, he could even kill Voldemort and then his other self and everyone else in the world could have a happy, normal life.

The world changed a lot with Harry in the last few minutes. Fifteen minutes ago, in Gryffindor tower he thought they had won this war. That was a good thing, but it didn't make him feel particularly happy, because of how much they had lost in the long fight. Then he just found out that they haven't really won the war at all yet, as Skynet used this time machine against them. But now Harry thought that with the time machine in their hand, they have actually won much, much more than just this war. They won the chance to make life normal again, to prevent this whole madness from ever happening, and for this, Harry felt truly happy, for the first time in many many years.

"What do you think about it, Harry?"

Kingsley's voice drove Harry out his thoughts.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"We were discussing that we should send someone back through it as well."

"That's right," answered Harry. "Alright, we need to organise groups. We have to work out that to which time and with what purpose should we send people back. Obviously, there needs to be a group which goes after this Terminator and destroys it. Then I think there should be..." Harry continued to say, but Dr. Peterson interrupted him.

"I am sorry, but we have some problems with that."

"What problems?" asked Harry.

"Well, we have no idea how this machine works. We only know that in its current state, if we close its door, it will send back whoever is inside it to 1991, just like the Terminator."

"Alright, but if this is a time machine, then if we learn how it works, then we can set it to anytime we want. And it will take time to organize the groups anyway, so you have time to figure out how this thing works."

"That's the other problem. The time-machine is set to destroy itself and seal the temporal gateway in a short time. People can only be sent back one-by-one, and the energy needs to be reloaded after each travel, which takes a long time. So considering the time left until the self-destruction, we can only send back one person."

Harry considered what the professor said. So only one person could go and only to July 1991. Well, it wasn't as good as it seemed at first, but still it was more than promising. He could easily handle a single Terminator alone, and 1991 was early enough so that he could ensure that his younger self, and everyone else he cared about could live a happy and peaceful life. It was Kingsley again who spoke first.

"If it seals the temporal gateway, than how are the travelers supposed to get back?"

"They aren't. No one is supposed get back, and no one else is supposed to go at all. This is how Skynet wanted to ensure that the Terminator succeds. If no one can go after him, no one can stop him. But we have this one chance," said Dr. Peterson.

This was another blow to Harry's plans, but this wasn't too bad, either. He can't come back, big deal. There wasn't much he would miss in this world. Alright, there was Albus, if he was alive, and there was Rose, and some really good friends like Kingsley. But if he organized everything before he left, they could easily carry on without him, and anyway, if he succeded, this world wouldn't even exist.

"Okay, so only one person and only to 1991. Well, alright then, I'll be going," said Harry.

Immediately everyone began to protest.

"No, Harry you can't go!"

"We don't know if it's safe."

"There is a Terminator waiting there!"

Harry finally laughed out at the last comment. "What, are you saying that I can't deal with a Terminator in five seconds?" he said to the young man who talked last, but it was Dr. Peterson who answered.

"Actually, I do. There is another thing about how this machine works. Only living organisms can go through time. You will be naked."

"Naked? But the Terminator isn't a living thing."

"Yes, but there is living tissue surrounding its metal endoskeleton."

"Very well, so I will be naked, which is quite unpleasant, but it doesn't make the task more difficult."

"But it does," said Dr. Peterson. "When I said naked I meant that you can't take anything with you at all. Nothing. And that includes your wand as well as that power booster ring thing with which you can damage the Terminators. And as Mrs. Weasley told me before, those rings require a CPU from a Terminator, so you won't be able to make one. It will be very difficult to destroy the Terminator."

Harry had to admit that the situation was lot more difficult, than what it seemed at first. But still, he couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. Surely he can manage to destroy the Terminator somehow, and this was a great chance to change everything for the better.

"So I can't take anything with me, but I'm still going."

Protests started again.

"But don't you understand...?"

"What will happen to us?

"We don't know if it works."

Finally Harry had enough.

"Silence!" he commanded and everyone fell silent at once. "I have decided this, and I am not going to argue about it. I am going back through time to save myself from the Terminator, and change the world for the better. You are my best friends and allies. I trust you all with my life. Before I leave, I will give instructions to you regarding how the reconstruction of the world should begin. I am confident that you will be able to carry on without me. I know that we don't know if this machine is safe, so before I leave, I want you to investigate how exactly this thing works. I would also like to know what will happen to this timeline if something is changed in the past. Please start working on this now."

He was really nervous, but his voice was calm. This was his voice of command, and when he talked like this, everyone followed his orders. They trusted and accepted Harry blindly. However, Dr. Peterson spoke up this time.

"We can't do that, Harry."

"Why not?"

Dr. Peterson looked at Harry and said gravely, "Because there are only five minutes left to use the machine."

"WHAT?"

"After five minutes it will destroy itself and we will never be able to use it again."

Harry lost his temper completely. "Why didn't you tell me before?" he yelled at Dr. Peterson. "You just said there wasn't much time left, but you never said it was only a few minutes."

"I only just realized."

Then a young woman with long red hair walked up to Harry.

"That settles it Harry. You have to stay here, you can't organize everything in five minutes. Let me go instead," she said.

"No way, darling," Harry said. "There is a Terminator back there and Voldemort as well. I have to go."

"She is right, Harry," Kingsley said. "We don't know if this whole thing works at all. We might lose your for nothing, and we can't even be sure if there wasn't something left from Skynet here. We need you here Harry. Whereas if this machine really works then someone else can also accomplish the mission."

Harry wanted to argue, but he knew that there was no time. His brief images of a happy life faded away. If someone else goes, then his younger self will have to deal with Voldemort again. But he knew there was too much risk in the whole thing and he couldn't risk dying in an unsuccesful time travel attempt. A wise man once told him that sometimes we have to choose between what is right and what is easy. He knew that he had to stay.

"Alright then. I will stay. Kingsley, I would like you to go back through time and protect me from the Terminator. As there is no time to make plans now, I trust you with doing whatever else you see fit to change the chain of events."

"I will do my best, Harry," Kingsley replied, nodding his head.

But the girl with the red hair was not giving up. "Please, Harry, why can't I go? I've been fighting with you for years, you know I can do this as well, and Kingsley is more important here."

"No, dear," Harry said. "I need someone who knows where he is going, knows the places, knows the people and knows Voldemort. You were born after Judgment Day, and there will be a Terminator waiting, we don't have time for you to get acquainted with 1991."

"You just don't trust me that I can do it, do you?" the girl was getting slightly histerical now. "I'll let you know that I've handled a lot more than a bloody Terminator and I have lost a lot more people close to me in this war than many others, and I have the right also to kick the ass of bloody Skynet!"

"Stop it!" Harry was back in his commanding voice again. "I don't have time to argue about this. I trust you with my life, honey, but that's not the matter now. I have made my decision, you are staying and Kingsley is going. And we are running out of time, so no more argument."

"Fine!" the girl huffed and she ran out of the room with tears in her eyes.

"We have 60 seconds left," stated Dr. Peterson.

"Alright, Kingsley, get ready," said Harry.

Kingsley started walking calmly towards the cabinet, but suddenly it doors creaked. Everyone looked there in alarm, and then a pile of clothes were thrown out of the cabinet.

"So everyone," the girl's voice said from inside the cabinet, but they couldn't see her. "You take care of yourselves and bust the remaining Terminators. I'm gonna go back and save little Harry and then make sure Skynet is never built. Well, I'll see you in the past. Good-bye," she said with a small chuckle, and before anyone could do anything, she closed the door.

Immediately the computers attached to the cabinet started buzzing, and electricity was lashing out of the wires. The last thing the girl heard was Harry shouting "Come out, damn it!" and then a white bulb of light started forming around the cabinet, and when it was bright enough that everyone in the room had to look away, then with a sucking sound it was suddenly gone.

And so was the girl from the cabinet.

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Author's notes:

Disclaimer: I don't own neither Harry Potter nor Terminator. This writing is for fun and no profit is being made.

Now, a few things about the story:

As you can see, this fic is a crossover between the two great book and film series, Harry Potter and the Terminator. However, its more a Harry Potter story, with a few Terminator characters (like the Terminator ) and events in it. It will take place in the HP universe, so characters like Sarah and John Connor, Kyle Reese etc. will not appear in it.

Of course this is a completely AU story, but when it doesn't interfere with my plot, I'll try to stick to the HP canon.

About the dates in this chapter:

In the original Terminator movies, that is, T1 and T2, it is said that Judgment day was 29th August 1997. In the HP books we know that Harry was born in 1980, so in the seventh book Harry defeated Voldemort around June 1998. So I changed this a bit so that this happened in August, and I put the Judgement day exactly one year later. With these minor changes they fit the timeline of my story.

It is also known from T1 and T2 that all time travelers in those films come from 2029, by which time mankind was on the verge of winning the war. That's why I used that year here. This also means that this story completely ignores T3 and every other Terminator related works apart from the first two films.

I hope you'll like this story, its my first fic ever. Please let me know what you think about it. I really appreciate any review.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Visitors from Future

29th July 1991

The small courtyard suddenly filled with electricity. The brick walls and the dustbins were all charging up as surges of electricity ran between them. Then a bright white bulb formed and suddenly it was gone. And where the middle of this bulb would be, there was a man, in a half-kneeling position.

Slowly, the man stood up and looked around. He was tall, muscular with short dark hair. And he was completely naked. And he was not even a man. He was a machine, a Terminator sent back from the future.

The Terminator looked around and scanned his surroundings. He was in a small place, and there was a building on one side, and a tall brick wall on the other. He scanned the wall and he could sense that there was a long street behind it. He managed to locate the place as the one called Diagon Alley by humans. On the other side there was a door leading into the building. The Terminator identified it as the place called Leaky Cauldron.

His sensors were temporarily disabled during the time travel, but now everything was fully functional again. He evaluated the situation and began to determine the necessary actions. The primary objective was to destroy Harry Potter. The first step was to acquire suitable clothing, means of transport and weapons. The Terminator opened the door and entered the Leaky Cauldron.

The pub was quite crowded although it was half past two in the morning. There were several witches, wizards and other creatures having drinks, and there was a particularly loud and cheery group at one table. They were the Wimbourne Wasps Quidditch team, celebrating their sixth victory in a row. They even had their Nimbus 2000 broomsticks propped up against the wall.

No one noticed at first that someone entered the pub. But when people caught a glimpse of the large naked man, they began to stare at him. Soon everyone fell silent, and they were looking surprisedly at the stranger.

It was the bartender who spoke first. "Can I get you something, sir?" he said. Well, you got all kinds of creatures in the pub, like goblins or vampires. Really, a naked man wasn't such a big deal.

But the Terminator didn't pay him attention. It was scanning the people in the room, trying to determine if someone's clothes fitted him and were appropriate at the same time. His eyes finally fell on one of the Quidditch players, and he approached him.

It was Andrew Prescott, Beater of the Wimbourne Wasps, their best one since Ludo Bagman. He was a tall, strong and cheerful man, currently wearing some ordinary wizard robes. He stared with wide eyes at the naked stranger now standing right in front of him. And the Terminator spoke to him.

"I need your robes, your boots and your broomstick."

Andrew was quite drunk by now, and he started laughing. Soon, his teammates and some other people were laughing as well. Andrew stood up. He was roughly the same height as the naked guy, and he clapped him on the shoulders.

"Sorry, mate," Andrew said, "but I need them, too. But tell you what, sit down here and I'll buy you a drink."

The Terminator grabbed Andrew's robes, and lifted the man a few inches from the ground.

"Your robes. Give them to me, now."

People started to get nervous, and one of Andrew's teammates drew his wand, and pointed it at the machine.

"Calm down, man, and let him go immediately," he told the naked man.

The Terminator, holding Andrew with one hand, reached out with his other hand toward the man pointing his wand at him, and pushed him hard against the wall, which was only two feet behind him. The man hit his head into the wall, and fell down, unconscious.

Immediately, the whole Quidditch team jumped on top of the Terminator, trying to wrestle him down, but they were no match for the machine. The cyborg eliminated them one-by-one with fatal or near-fatal punches and kicks. Finally, he started to drag Andrew towards the exit of the pub.

The people in the pub were watching with fear, and no one dared interrupt. But one of them, a very large man with long black hair and beard, yelled "Yeh bastard!" and lounged towards the Terminator. He was unusually big, a lot larger than the Terminator, and he obviously thought that he could beat him easily. However, when he grabbed the machine's head, he was brutally thrown backwards into the counter, and he lay crumpled on the ground.

Andrew used these few moments to make a run for it, but he was too slow. The Terminator grabbed him again, and with a swift motion, broke his neck. Then he took his body and a broomstick out into the courtyard. He quickly put on Andrew's clothes, then mounted the broomstick and took off.

Meanwhile, the large man regained his composure, and he was not going to give up.

"I'm gonna get yeh fer this," he shouted and ran after the Terminator. People tried to hold him back with shouts of "Hagrid, no!" but he didn't listen to them. He grabbed his motorcycle parked in the corner of the pub, took it out, started the engine, and took off after the murderer. Apparently, Hagrid had a flying motorcycle.

The deserted field was dark and quiet. There were no lights or sounds made, the night was peaceful. But suddenly electricity started to fill the place and a bright white bulb formed, floading the area with almost daylight. Then as suddenly as it came, the bulb and the light disappeared, and seemingly nothing was left in its place.

"Aaaah," the young woman groaned. She didn't consider it for a second that time travel could actually be painful. Yet it was, her whole body ached, she supposed it was similar to what the Cruciatus curse, an evil spell she heard about felt like. But the pain was quickly subsiding, and she was regaining her composure.

She quickly checked if the Disillusionment charm she placed on herself before sneaking back to the Room of Requirement and into the time machine was still in place. It was, so the time travel didn't cancel that. That was a good thing, as she had no clothes and no wand, so she needed to get those first, and being invisible was a great advantage. It wouldn't be too lucky to run around naked all the place.

She looked around her surrondings. She was in a field somewhere in the country, and no one was in sight. It was a warm night, and she didn't feel cold at all. The first strange, but wonderful thing she felt was the smell of fresh air around her. She was born after the nuclear war, in ruins, and in radioactive pollution. She never smelled fresh air, never saw forests, clear natural water or even proper daylight.

This field here was simply fantastic. The smell of trees, flowers, the soft grass under her bare feet were the most amazing things she ever felt. For a few carefree minutes she was running around in the grass, laughing happily.

Then suddenly, as if something clicked in her mind, the reality of her situation hit her. She sank onto the ground, clutching her knees, and started thinking. What the hell did she think she was doing? How could he disobey Harry like that? And most importantly, what on earth did she land herself in?

While listening to the conversation about the time machine, a fantastic opportunity shone up in front of her. Yes, this could be the perfect thing for her, to change the past. She had lost her parents, her brother, and many other people she loved. She hated Skynet and those machines with every ounce she had. If there was a chance to destroy it completely, and even before it was created, then she must see to it personally.

Yet how could she rush into it so unthinkingly. She could imagine what her mother would say if she heard about it. "How could you be so thoughtless. You should study the theory first and make plans."

Her father would have been proud, though, she mused. "That's my girl," he would say.

She was only 23, but she's been through a lot. She's been in the thick of the war, ever since she lost her aunt and cousins at the age of 13. She's been with her parents in Harry's closest group, and she learned and experienced a lot, both in battling the Terminators and in trying to get to Skynet itself.

But it was because of her experience that she knew how foolish she had been. She looked around the dark field, and realized that she had absolutely no idea where she was, and even if the date was what it was supposed to be, 29th July 1991. She had no clothes, no wand, she didn't know how she could find Harry, let alone doing it before the Terminator does. Without the spell-modifying rings, she didn't know how she could destroy the Terminator, and even if she did it somehow, she had absolutely no bloody idea how she could stop Skynet from being created. And with all that, she wouldn't even have the time to worry about the mysterious and scary Lord Voldemort, who Harry defeated, but even years later in her childhood, everyone spoke about him with fear.

But she was a stubborn girl. She was into it now, and there was no going back, there was no help, she was alone. She had to do it. Failure was not an option. The whole world's fate was on her shoulders, and she had to win. She thought about Harry. He was nearly 50 now, or at least back were she came from – oh damn, this time-thing is confusing – and his whole life was dedicated to fighting evil. And he never gave up, and in the end he won. She felt very proud of Harry, who has been very close to her in her whole life, and he became like a father after her real parents died.

She was not going to let him down! She must do this, because she can't live with the thought of letting young Harry die in this time. She just couldn't face herself if she let that happen.

With that thought she finally calmed down, and started thinking of plans about what to do.

The Terminator's weight was a bit too much for the broomstick, and it was flying rather slowly. Hagrid had no trouble catching up with it on his motorcycle. When he was about ten feet behind, he pulled out a pink umbrella, pointed at the back of the murderer and fired a jet of light. It missed its target by a couple of inches. The Terminator looked back at his pursuer but continued flying.

"Yeh bloody bastard! Yeh killed them people! Get on teh ground right now!" Hagrid yelled at him.

The machine turned his head back forwards, and he started descending to the ground. He actually did as Hagrid told him.

Hagrid landed about ten feet from the Terminator, and immediately pointed his umbrella at him.

"Who teh ruddy hell are yeh?" he asked.

The Terminator slowly looked up at him and said, "I need your motorcycle."

Hagrid blinked at him unbelievingly, then rage flooded him. "I'm gonna get yeh now!" he shouted and fired a rope from his umbrella to bind his opponent.

But the Terminator was too quick. He grabbed the end of the rope with one hand and pulled it with the umbrella and Hagrid towards himself. When the man was near him, he raised his other hand and punched Hagrid in the face. The half-giant fell back, and with a sickening crunch, his skull broke when it hit the hard ground. He was dead.

The Terminator searched Hagrid's coat, examining his belongings. He found several objects and animals, but he considered them irrelevant regarding his mission. But finally he found something, which would have made him feel very excited, had he been able to have emotions.

It was a thick letter in an envelope. What made it interesting to the machine was the adressee. The letter was addressed in green ink to Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.

The Terminator pocketed the envelope, got on Hagrid's motorcycle, and took off towards Little Whinging.

It was dawning. The girl sat in the grass and stared in awe at the red sun appearing on the horizon. She had never seen a sunrise before, and it amazed her.

Then she silently scolded herself. This was exactly why Harry wanted to send Kingsley back. There simply wasn't time for her to get acquainted with this world. She had to go now. With a soft pop, she disapparated.

With another pop, she appeared at the end of a small village. The sign next to her read Ottery St. Catchpole. She looked around, and quickly found the path she was looking for, and started walking on it towards the small hills.

She didn't meet anyone on her way, but the Disillusionment charm was still working, so no one would have seen her anyway. After some walk she reached a place where thick bushes stood in an almost straight line. She approached them, and carefully climbed through them. It was quite difficult because she still didn't have any clothes, and the twigs caused bruises all over her body.

When she was almost out on the other side of the bushes, she could see into the backgarden of a family, and she could also see a rather ramshackle house, probably held only by magic. By this time the sun was fully up, and it was about time that people woke up.

The girl waited by the edge of the bushes, and after a few minutes a little girl came out into the garden. She had fiery red hair, and she was holding a wand. The woman's throat tightened as she was looking at this little girl. She knew who she was, and seeing her caused strange emotions to stir inside her.

The little girl seemed rather sad. She sat down on the ground, not far away from the other woman she was not aware of, and absently started prodding the ground with the wand, making it emit sparks. After a few minutes someone shouted at her from the door of the house.

"There you are, Ginny!"

A much taller, but still very young red-haired boy came towards her. The woman in the bushes felt tears sliding down her face. She was looking at her father.

Rose Weasley, the daughter of Ron and Hermione was the girl who came back from the future. She was looking at her dad and her Aunt Ginny. She remembered everyone saying that surprisingly she didn't resemble any of her parents much, but instead she looked quite like her aunt. She had to admit they were quite right. She didn't have time to think more about it, however, as Ron spoke again.

"What are doing, Ginny? You know we aren't allowed to use wands here. What if Mum sees us?"

"It's easy for you to say," Ginny answered. "You will go to Hogwarts in a month, and then you can do any magic, but I can't go, I have to stay here." She seemed on the verge of tears.

"Oh come on, Ginny," Ron said, trying to comfort her. "You are in this bad mood ever since I got my Hogwarts letter a week ago. You know that you can come next year, don't be sad about it."

"But I want to go now, with you, I want to be in Hogwarts as well."

"You know you can't. But don't worry, I will send you loads of letters and I will tell you what Hogwarts is like. Lets go in, have breakfast and then we can play a game of chess or something," he said, and reached out with his hand to pull his sister up.

Just then, a female voice rang out to them.

"Ron! Ginny! Where are you? Come in and have breakfast."

"Quick, hide the wand in there," Ron said quietly to Ginny, indicating the bushes. "We don't want Mum seeing us with it. We'll come back for it later." Then he shouted towards the house, "Coming, Mum."

Rose couldn't help but smile at how protective his dad had been with his sister even at such a young age. She remembered him being the same with everyone he cared about.

When the children were gone, Rose quickly picked up Ron's wand. She breathed a sigh of relief. She had a wand now, this will make things a lot easier.

First, she conjured up some clothes for herself. She put on jeans and a t-shirt, and some comfortable trainers. Then she removed the Disillusionment charm. She stood in the garden of her grandparents' and looked around. She had average height, she was quite slim, but in very good physical condition, especially for a girl. She had a pretty face with warm brown eyes, but those eyes told anyone who looked in them, that this young and seemingly fragile girl had seen and been through a lot more than many older people could even imagine.

She went out through the bushes and walked up towards the front of the house. She stopped at a place where she couldn't be spotted by someone looking out of the house, but she could see the front door. She spotted a newspaper lying on the floor next to the door. She racked her brain and remembered that the wizarding newspaper was called Daily Prophet. It was a talent she inherited from her mother, who was probably the cleverest witch of her time, that she could remember even the most insignificant details of things she once heard or read.

"Accio Daily Prophet," she said, pointing her wand at the newspaper, and it soared towards her. She quickly checked the date, and to her relief, it was 29th July 1991. So the time travel went alright.

Now where will she find Harry? She knew from stories she heard that at this time Harry lived with his aunt and uncle in a place called Privet Drive in Little Whinging. However, she also remembered Harry telling a story once about how he learned he was a wizard. His uncle didn't let him read his Hogwarts letter, and they went off with him to a faraway hut on the seashore. And finally Hagrid, the friendly half-giant who Rose really liked when she was a child, found him on his eleventh birthday. This was one of her cousins', Harry's children's, favourite bedtime story.

The key point was that it was on Harry's eleventh birthday. That was the day after tomorrow. So she will have to find that hut somewhere on the seashore. With that thought, she disapparated.

It was nine in the morning when the Terminator reached Privet Drive. He turned into the street just when a car turned out at the other end. He parked his motorcycle in front of number 4 and approached the front door. He rang the doorbell, and waited. When there was no answer, he simply pushed the door open easily.

He began to search the house. In the kitchen he found at least forty of the same envelopes that he found at the oversized human he killed. Otherwise, the house was empty. He saw lot of pictures of a young human in one of the rooms, and he stored the image so that he can recognise it, when he saw him. He gave it high probability that the images showed the primary target, Harry Potter.

The Terminator knew that at this time humans had the habit of leaving their place of residence at daytime and only returning for the night. So he assumed that the inhabitants of this place, most probably including Harry Potter, will return shortly. He went back to the front door, and stood still behind it, so that when someone entered, they would come face to face with him.

But when more than 15 hours passed and it was past midnight, the Terminator assumed that the chance of Harry Potter returning shortly was very small. They have probably gone on a so called holiday. He took out the letter he got from Hagrid to look for clues, and then he recognized that the address on the envelope had changed. It was now addressed to Mr. H. Potter, Room 17, Railview Hotel, Cokeworth.

The machine didn't understand how it worked, but he realized that the address on the envelope probably always adjusted itself to the current whereabouts of Harry Potter. So he will have to find this new address. He went out and took off on his motorbike.

It was already morning when he reached the hotel. He went up to the reception.

"I am friend of Harry Potter. He is staying in room 17, I would like to see him."

"Very well, sir," the woman at the reception answered. "You may go and see him. Room 17 is on the first floor, on the right."

The Terminator walked up the stairs and entered room 17. It was empty. He searched the room, but he couldn't find anything indicating that anyone lived in this room at all. He went back to the reception and grabbed the woman sitting at the desk.

"Harry Potter is not in that room. Where is he?"

The woman's eyes widened in fear and she started trembling.

"I... I do... don't know. I don't even kn... know who he is. Please let me go," she said in a shaking voice.

"You are lying," said the Terminator. "He was staying in this hotel."

"I c-can have a l-look in the guestbook if you put me down," she said, and she added, "please."

The Terminator released the woman and she looked into the book.

"Well, Mr. Dursley took room 16 and 17 for the last night, but they left about an hour ago. I don't know anything about a Harry Potter, though," she said fearfully.

The Terminator processed what he heard. Dursley was the name he saw on the house in Privet Drive. Probably they were together with Harry Potter. So they already left. Then he must go and find them.

"Very well," was all he said, and he left the hotel, leaving the trembling woman behind.

Outside the hotel, he took a look at the envelope again. But this time he couldn't make out the address as in its place was only a blur. The Terminator assumed they must be travelling at a rather high speed, so the address constantly changes. He will have to wait until they settle in order to locate them.

To use the time the Terminator went and got himself a gun. Though he was more than capable of killing people with his bare hands, having a gun was still an advantage if any trouble arised.

It was afternoon when he could finally make out the address on the envelope. It said Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. It was not a very definite address, but he should be able to find it.

Finally, a couple of minutes before midnight he reached the right place on the seashore. Though it was dark, with his sensors he could see a large rock out in the sea, with a shabby little shack on top of it. He checked the envelope again, and the address hasn't changed. Harry Potter was there, no more than a mile from him.

He kicked in the engine of his motorbike and took off to complete his mission. To kill Harry Potter.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This chapter contains extracts from chapters 3 and 4 of Harry Potter and the Phylosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone.

Chapter 3

The First Battle

30th July 1991, 11:50 pm

As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.

The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.

Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did. Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.

Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?

One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds... twenty... ten... nine – maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him – three... two... one...

BOOM.

The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door.

There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.

"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you – I'm armed!"

There was a pause. Then –

SMASH!

The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.

Without warning the Terminator fired his gun. The shot hit Uncle Vernon squarely in the chest and he fell to the ground, dead.

Aunt Petunia let out a high pitched scream, while Dudley and Harry sat frozen with terror. The Terminator scanned the room, and his eyes fell on Dudley. He recognized the boy from the pictures in Privet Drive.

"Harry Potter?" he asked in his neutral voice.

"N-n-n-n-no," Dudley stuttered, shaking his head. Then he managed to point a shaky finger at Harry, who was in a corner of the room.

The Terminator then turned his head in Harry's direction.

"Harry Potter?" he repeated the question.

Harry didn't know what to do in fear, and he slowly nodded his head. The Terminator's internal screen flashed 'Target acquired,' and he raised his gun, pointing it at Harry's forehead. Then –

"Expelliarmus!"

The red-haired girl appeared out of nowhere with a pop, and she immediately fired a spell at the machine. The gun flew out of the Terminator's hand, and he looked at the newcomer with something very similar to surprise. Then suddenly he lounged towards them.

But Rose started firing spells at the cyborg in rapid succession.

"Stupefy! Reducto! Reducto! Impedimenta! Stupefy!"

Each spell forced the Terminator a few inches backwards, and after about the tenth spell, it fell on its back. With a final curse, Rose brought the ceiling of the hut crashing down onto the machine.

She quickly grabbed an empty chip bag from the floor, muttered "Portus!" and the bag glowed blue for a moment.

"Quick!" she told the terrified boys and Aunt Petunia. "We've got to get out of here. Everybody place a hand on this bag, now!"

Harry did as she was told, but Aunt Petunia stayed kneeling by her dead husband, and she was holding Dudley back.

"What have you done?" she screamed at Harry. "This is all your fault! They were after you! You killed Vernon!" Then she turned to Rose. "And you! You're one of those freaks, too! Oh, you killed my husband!" She broke down completely and started wailing loudly.

While Rose sympathized with the woman's feelings, she still couldn't believe how she could talk to Harry like that. But either way, this what not the time to discuss it. The splinters started to move as the Terminator was pushing them off him. There wasn't much time.

"This is no time to argue," Rose said. "Come with me if you want to live."

Seeing the Terminator getting up was enough for Dudley, and he ran and touched the chip bag. But Aunt Petunia still wouldn't move.

"Come on, Mum!" screamed Dudley.

The Terminator finally got up and made his way towards Harry. Seeing the real killer of his husband, Aunt Petunia finally reacted, and ran to the others, and touched the bag. The Terminator was only two feet away from them when Rose tapped the Portkey with her wand, and they were gone.

The Terminator stared at the spot where his enemies disappeared. His thoughts were closest to disbelief, which in his terms meant that a very low-probability event happened just now. Not only was there a human whose mission clearly was to stop him from completing his mission, but she was also from the more powerful type, those who could use a special wooden stick as a weapon.

This human stopped him from completing his primary objective this time, and now he had to devise a new strategy, as he finally encountered a human who was capable of fighting him. He took out the letter again, but it was damaged by one of the human's attacks. He currently couldn't find a way of tracking his primary target, so he decided to complete some other objectives of his mission.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Harry, Rose, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley arrived into the living room of number 4 Privet Drive. Rose looked around in interest, the other three in shock. The events of the night were too much for Dudley, but being at home made him calm down. He went up to his room and fell asleep immediately, exhausted from stress.

Aunt Petunia, on the other hand, couldn't sleep. She sank onto the couch, shaking violently. She looked up at Rose with fear and loathing, but couldn't say anything.

Harry was also deeply shaken shaken by tonight's events, but he was also curious to know what was going on. And he most certainly wasn't afraid of the young girl who rescued them. He instinctively felt he could trust her.

Rose went to the kitchen and returned shortly with a glass of brandy and gave it to Aunt Petunia. She took it with trembling hands and drained it in at instant. Soon her breathing became normal again, and a few minutes later she, too, fell asleep on the couch.

Rose took her wand out and pointed it at the sleeping woman.

"What are going to do to her?" Harry asked in alarm, suddenly finding his voice.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt her," the girl reassured him. "I'm just gonna modify her memories so she won't remember the terrible things that happened tonight." With that she looked back at Aunt Petunia and said, "Obliviate!"

"Wait here, Harry," she continued, "I have to do the same to your cousin."

She went upstairs and came back a couple of minutes later.

"Are you going to modify my memories, too?" Harry asked looking at the girl.

"No, Harry, I won't," she said, smiling at him. "You need to know everything."

She then went into the kitchen again and started fumbling in the fridge. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah," Harry answered, and followed her into the kitchen.

Rose got some cold meat and salad out, picked up some bread and brought them to the table. They sat and ate in silence fore some time. Finally, it was Harry who spoke.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Rose. Rose Weasley." She subconsciously expected some sort of reaction from the Harry, but obviously, her name didn't mean anything this time to the boy who later came to know her family so well.

"And how come you know me? I don't remember ever seeing you."

Rose smiled bitterly and slowly let her breath out. This was going to be a long conversation. She hated having to tell such terrible things to such a young child, but she had to tell him everything. He had the right to know and he was supposed to know. She thought the best way was to keep answering his questions, and finaly tell him about the things he didn't ask.

"Well, I was sent to protect you."

"From that man who killed Uncle Vernon?"

"Yes, from him. But it isn't a man, its a machine called Terminator. They are built to kill people. And this specific one has to kill you, Harry."

"But there aren't such things, are there?" Harry remembered a lesson at school few years ago where the teacher explained them the difference between reality and fictions you could see in the TV. This sounded exactly like one of those things. "You can only see such things in films."

How was she going to explain this?

"Okay, Harry, listen to me. There really aren't such machines today. But you do believe that one day in the future, people will be able to make such things, don't you?"

Harry looked thoughtful, and then said cautiously, "Well, they might."

"Okay, Harry. So tell me, do you understand what time travel is?"

Harry nodded his head, curious about where this was leading.

"Right. Well, time travel is also impossible today," Rose continued. "But it's possible, isn't it, that the same one who will invent these machines one day will also find a way to travel through time?

"Yeah, I guess it is."

"So there we are. I come from the future. I will be born 13 years later, and I came back from the year 2029 to protect you from the Terminator, who also came from that year."

Harry wasn't sure what to think. All these things seemed so impossible. Yet everything that happened tonight were impossible. How they appeared in Privet Drive from that hut, then Rose supposedly modifying his aunt and cousin's memories. He didn't know what to believe, he needed to ask more questions.

"But why does this Terminator want to kill me, now?" he asked finally.

"There will be a war in the future between men and machines. It started 8 years before I was born and it finished just before I came back here. We, people won in the end. Skynet, the leader of the Terminators thought that if he could kill the leader of people before the war started, then it could win. That's why he sent the Terminator to kill you. You were our leader in the future, Harry."

Harry laughed. This was too much.

"You didn't think I would believe all this," he said accusingly. "Terminators, time travel, and me, the great leader of the world. You know, I am eleven years old, I am too big for these kind of tales."

Rose smiled inwardly. And you haven't heard half of the story yet, boy. But it was time to change tactics.

"Right you are. You are a big boy for fairy tales. And that reminds me..."

She turned her back on Harry, flicked her wand and turned back with a birthday cake in her hands, with eleven candles glowing on it.

"Happy Birthday, Harry."

Harry's face lit up in happiness. "Th-thanks," he stammered. This was the first birthday cake he ever got. They sat in silence for a while, eating the cake, which was delicious. After that, they went back to the living room. Aunt Petunia was still sleeping on the couch.

"So tell me," Harry said, "did you really modify their memories?"

"Yes, I did. They will think that your uncle died a couple of weeks ago in a car crash."

Harry's good mood evaporated instantly. "Just like my parents..." he mumbled, looking away.

"What was that?" Rose asked.

"I said its not funny to say such a thing," Harry said, his voice stronger now. "That's how my parents died."

"What do you mean?" Rose was perplexed.

"I mean that my parents died in a car crash," said Harry, definitely angry now.

"But... But..." Rose stammered, completely at a loss. "Of course they didn't die in a car crash."

"How would you know that? Who are you to talk about things like that?" Harry's throat was suddenly very tight, and tears started swelling in his eyes.

"But Harry," Rose said slowly and kindly, "your parents were killed by Voldemort, everyone knows that."

"Who is Voldemort?"

Rose was really unsure of herself now.

"Well, Voldemort is the most evil wizard alive."

"What do you mean, wizard? What's all this again?"

And then it dawned on Rose. Of course. Harry didn't know that he was a wizard yet, he didn't know anything about the wizarding world, which was hidden from Muggles at this time. Of course, after Judgment day there was no point in keeping wizardry secret. How could she be so stupid? Poor Harry, she keeps babbling to him about Skynet and Terminators, when he doesn't even know who he is. And he doesn't know about Voldemort, yet he will have to deal with him first before Skynet, and it will be an equally hard task for him.

Originally, Hagrid told Harry about everything just at this time. So its her job now.

"Okay, now listen to me very carefully. This is going to be a very long and complicated story, but I swear I am telling the truth. Please believe me."

Harry looked in her eyes and felt it instinctively that she was being honest. He nodded for her to continue.

"So, Harry, first of all I must tell you that there are witches and wizards living. That means people who can do magic. I am one, your parents were, too, and you are one as well. That's how I appeared at that hut, how I fought the Terminator, how I got you all back here, how I modified your aunt and cousin's memories. It was all magic. And how I conjured your birthday cake, as well," she added with a smile.

"B-but I can't be a w-wizard. I-I've never..." Harry began.

"You've never done magic before?" Rose asked and Harry nodded. "You know, young children can't do magic deliberately. But I'm sure you've done accidental magic before. Think, Harry, didn't strange things happen when you were particularly angry or scared?"

Harry thought for a minute and reality slowly sank in. He was a wizard! He smiled and nodded at Rose, and she continued.

"Now the main reason why you can't do proper magic, is that most magical activities require a wand," she said showing her wand to Harry. "Those kind of things are called spells. Those branches of magic that are done without a wand are so complicated, that you can't do them accidentally. You need to learn and practice a lot to do them."

"So can you teach me?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Well, its not that simple. I'll explain it to you, though. Normally young witches and wizards this time – and as a matter of fact, for the last thousand years – started their magical education at eleven, here in Britain at a school called Hogwarts. They attend this school for seven years until they are trained in all sorts of magic. All those letters there are about you being accepted to Hogwarts."

She flicked her wand and one of the letters soared into the room. Harry opened the letter and read it in a few minutes.

"So am I going to this school in September?" he asked.

"If you were an ordinary wizard, then you would. But unfortunately you aren't ordinary neither in this time, and especially not in the future." She paused at the uncomprehending look on Harry's face. "Okay, I know I have to explain this. There is a wizard, born about, er, let me think, some 65 years ago, who turned very evil. He recruited followers, called Death Eaters, and started a war about twenty years ago. He wanted to rule the world, to enslave Muggles, that is, the non-magical people, and kill all witches and wizards who were not pure-blood, which means that not all their ancestors were witches and wizards. He thought they were inferior, which is of course rubbish, because its not your ancestry that defines you but your actions and personality. As a matter of fact, he himself was a half-blood.

"Anyway, there was a war and the good side was led by the most powerful wizard in centuries, Albus Dumbledore. He is the Headmaster of Hogwarts now. Your parents were on his side, too. But still, Voldemort couldn't be stopped. Then, shortly before you were born, there was prophecy made which told that a child with the power to defeat the Dark Lord, who was Voldemort, will be born, and one of them, I mean the child or Voldemort will have to kill the other.

"The description of this boy in the prophecy fitted you, so Voldemort went to kill you when you were a year old. He killed your father first, and then your mother sacrificed herself to save you. That was an ancient and very powerful love-magic, and when Voldemort fired the unblockable Killing curse at you, it rebounded, and hit him instead. That's when you got that scar on your forehead. No one has ever survived that curse, you were the first one. But actually, Voldemort was the second. Because he had used the darkest, evilest type of magic that no one had used before to ensure that he was almost immortal, the rebounding curse didn't kill him. But he did lose his body and his powers, and he disappeared and hasn't been seen until now. For this, Harry you became a hero, and everyone knows your name in the wizarding world.

"So these are the things that happened before now. The other things I can tell you were events from my past, but your future, things that may happen differently this time. Do you want me to continue?"

Harry's head was swelling, and he was feeling definitely ill. All these things were shocking to hear, and far too much at once, but there were still things he didn't understand, but had to know.

"Yes, continue," he croaked.

"Well, what happened to you originally, when there was no Terminator in this time, was that you went to Hogwarts, made friends and started your magical education. Voldemort made some attempts to return to power starting from next year, but you stopped him twice. Yes, you did it, as a young boy. However, at the end of your fourth year, Voldemort managed to regain a body and return to power. His followers rejoined him and the war started again. It lasted for three years and in the end you killed Voldemort, just as the prophecy said. You won the war for the light side.

"So far, so good. The Muggles weren't involved yet. You know, one of the most important law of wizards for centuries was that their existence has to be kept secret from Muggles. That's why you didn't know there were wizards, though in this case, your aunt and uncle were supposed to tell you. Well, never mind that. So anyway, the Muggles were not involved in this war.

"But then, on the day after you defeated Voldemort, something terrible happened. For many years, wizards thought it was only a tragic coincidence, and it originated completely from the Muggle world. What happened was that the best Muggle computer, used by the American army, came to self-awareness and decided that mankind was its enemy and it should be destroyed. Unfortunately, this computer, Skynet had control over the most powerful weapons, I am sure you heard about them, the nuclear rockets. So he fired these rockets, and destroyed Earth completely. The planet was a ruin afterwards. Believe me Harry, before I came back two days ago, I've never smelt fresh air, I've seen proper daylight, I've never heard birds chirping..."

She couldn't continue. Talking about all this made her think about her parents, and everyone else she lost, the terrible world she lived in. Tears were sliding down her face. Harry reached out and gently took her hand in his. Rose chuckled softly. She should be comforting the boy after all she told him about his parents and him killing Voldemort and everything, yet now the eleven year old boy was trying to comfort her.

Well, he really was a strong person, Rose mused. She pulled herself together and continued.

"So a new war started just when the other one finished. But this time it wasn't good wizards against bad wizards but people, every kind of people against machines. For Skynet soon constructed the Terminators and they started killing people. You were leading our side again, organising the people throughout the world. Without you, we would have lost, the Terminators would have killed everyone.

"But it was a very hard war. First we had to find a way to kill the Terminators, then find out how Skynet worked and how it could be destroyed. You know, it was very difficult because it didn't have a body, it was something like a huge brain with virtual tentacles running all around the world. It was almost twenty years from the beginning of the war that we found out that Skynet actually partially originated from the wizarding world, and even more, it was related to Voldemort himself. Actually, it was my Mum who found this out," she added and her voice was very proud.

"A couple of years after that the group I was in, and which was led directly by you managed to destroy the whole Skynet system, and we won the war, at least in that time. However, as a last move Skynet managed to send this Terminator back through time to kill you, and I came after it to protect you. So the war will only be won when we destroy this Terminator, but true success would only be if we managed to change history enough so that this war never starts in the first place, and this is the truly difficult task."

Rose finished the story, and looked away. Harry looked down and stared at the table for a long time. He was at a loss. His whole world changed around him in the last couple of hours. This was too much to process at once, it will take a long time for the reality to sink in.

They sat in silence for a long time, and finally it was Rose who spoke.

"I think you should go to bed, Harry. Tomorrow we'll be leaving early."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A Chat with Dumbledore

31st July 1991

Albus Dumbledore was nervously pacing in his office. Things were not going well, not at all. He heard terrible news the past two days, and he was clueless.

Witnesses told him about the mass murder in the Leaky Cauldron. A naked man with brutal strenght stormed in, went up to the celebrating Quidditch team, demanded the clothes of one of them and then brutally attacked them. He killed four and gravely injured the other three people. Then he left and Rubeus Hagrid went after him. Later that night they found Hagrid's dead body a few miles from the pub.

Dumbledore felt deeply sad for Hagrid. He was a kind, good-hearted and trustworthy friend. He had a hard life, but Dumbledore always tried to watch over him, and in exchange Hagrid was loyal to him to the core. And now he was gone forever.

But unfortunately he couldn't dwell on grieving Hagrid, because there were other unnerving matters. A few days ago the Hogwarts letters were sent out to the old students as well as the new ones. This included Harry Potter, and Dumbledore always paid special attention to the boy's situation, because of his role against Voldemort according to the prophecy, and also in respect towards his dead parents.

However, Dumbledore knew that Harry wasn't getting the letters, or at least didn't get the chance to read them. Therefor he gave a copy of it to Hagrid with the instruction that if Harry didn't get his letters before his birthday, which was today, then Hagrid should go and give it to him personally, then take Harry to buy all his Hogwarts stuff. But now Hagrid couldn't do this.

What was troubling the Headmaster of Hogwarts was that he placed a charm on the envelope so that it could track Harry's location and display the address accordingly. However, it only worked as long as Harry didn't use any magical means of transport. So if he Apparated, Portkeyed, used Floo Powder or simply flew on a broomstick then the envelope would lose him. Dumbledore didn't care much about this originally, as Harry wasn't yet acquainted with the wizarding world, so he wouldn't possibly do any of these before Hagrid fetched him.

But now Dumbledore was looking at another copy of Harry's letter, and there was no address on it. This could only mean that something magical happened to Harry, and Dumbledore feared it had something to do with the mysterious murderer. He hoped against hope that the boy was alright.

There was another thing bothering him, too. He also asked Hagrid to get a package for him from Gringotts bank. He will have to get that soon, but first he had to find Harry.

Dumbledore let out a big sigh. This was going to be the most difficult time since Voldemort's downfall ten years ago, and he really wasn't looking forward to it. He wasn't exactly young anymore.

Just then, he heard tapping on his window. He looked there and saw a small, dark brown owl waiting to be let in. Or was it really an owl? It was looking quite strange. He opened the window, and the creature flew in.

It was a plastic owl, like a children's toy. Dumbledore had never seen a letter delivered by such a thing. He reached out for the letter, but the thing jumped backwards, then started to circle around the old man, going up and down. During this, Dumbledore had the strange sensation of being X-rayed. Finally, the plastic owl dropped the letter onto the table and disappeared with a hoot.

He opened the letter and found neat handwriting in it.

_Dear Professor Dumbledore,_

_I am writing to you because I want to tell you some important things concerning Harry Potter._

_I'd also like to ask for your help._

_Please meet me in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade today at 12 o'clock._

_Sincerely,_

_R.W._

Dumbledore sat thinking for a while. What could this possibly mean? At first look, it seemed a very polite letter, and it didn't look as it had any hostile purposes. But after reading between the lines, it was quite suspicius. Important things about Harry, and asking for his help; that could easily mean that they had kidnapped Harry, and were asking for something in exchange for him. And why didn't this mysterious R.W. sign his full name?

Albus Dumbledore was angry. He was not someone to fool with. After the recent events, after what happened to poor Hagrid this was not the time to play nicely. He was going down to the Hog's Head at 12, and he was going to get everything out of this R.W. whoever he was. He must do everything he could to save Harry.

So when it was nearing midday, Dumbledore walked down to the gates of the Hogwarts grounds. When he was outside them, he Apparated and arrived in the main street of Hogsmeade. After another short walk he arrived at the Hog's Head pub. He pushed the door open and entered.

There was no one inside except for a young red haired woman. She stood up when she saw the old man entering.

"Professor Dumbledore?" she asked.

So this was R.W., Dumbledore thought. He had to admit she wasn't what he expected, but he was no man to be fooled by looks. For all he knew, this woman could be someone under Polyjuice potion, or even if this was her real body, her good looks didn't necessarily mean she was a good person.

Dumbledore drew his wand and in an instant the woman was immobilised.

"Where is Harry Potter?" Dumbledore asked harshly.

Rose's eyes widened in shock. This was not what she expected. After all she heard about Dumbledore she knew he was a very powerful man, but she also thought that he was gentle and didn't act rashly. Something was very wrong here.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked angrily, struggling to move some part of her body, but she couldn't.

"The question is who you are," answered Dumbledore.

"I am here to see Albus Dumbledore, is that you?"

"Yes it is, as I assume you very well know."

"So will you let me go, for heaven's sake, I haven't come to fight you."

"I will decide that for myself," the old man said calmly, not taking his wand away from Rose. "What have you done to Harry Potter?"

"I haven't done anything to him. He is with me."

"Then where is he now?"

"In the bathroom," Rose said, getting more and more irritated by the old man, and her own stupidity for letting herself get caught so easily.

Dumbledore turned his head in the direction of the bathrooms just when a boy with jet-black hair, round glasses and green eyes came out. A huge stone fell from his chest. He could recognise that boy anytime, and thank God he seemed unhurt.

"Rose!" Harry exclaimed when he saw his friend in that strange position, unable to move a muscle.

"Don't come close to him, Harry," Rose said, alarm in her voice.

"Harry, are you alright?" Dumbledore said to the boy in a much nicer, gentle voice, something what Rose expected from him in the beginning.

Harry was unsure what to think about the old man. He was clearly doing something bad to Rose, yet he spoke to him kindly, and that twinkle in his eyes behind his half-moon spectacles were also friendly.

"Y-Yeah, I am," he answered. "But what are you doing to Rose?"

"Just a precaution. Harry, did she hurt you?"

"No!" Harry said indignantly. "She saved my life."

"You see? Is that good enough for you? Will you let me go at last?" Rose said very impatiently.

After a moment, Dumbledore said, "Yes, I suppose," and with a flick of his wand, Rose could move again.

"Thank you," Rose said with a very hard edge in her voice, stretching her arms and legs.

"I apologise for my crude behaviour, Miss ah – Rose, is it? – but please understand that given the recent events and your rather cryptic letter, I had to make sure about your intentions first."

They all sat down at the table.

"Alright, lets forget about it," said Rose.

"That is very kind of you. So, I don't think we've been properly introduced. Harry, I am Professor Dumbledore. I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts. I trust you heard about Hogwarts by now?"

"Yes, sir," said Harry.

"And who can I meet in this charming young lady here?" Dumbledore said, looking at Rose."

"I am Rose Weasley."

"Weasley? Are you related to Arthur Weasley?" Dumbledore sounded surprised.

"Yeah, I guess I am. But don't ask me the degree of our relation, because I have to tell you a very long story before you believed the answer."

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling more than ever, and he said, "Oh, I would be most interested to hear that story, Miss Weasley."

The bartender appeared at their table and cleared his throat.

"Ah, Aberforth," Dumbledore greeted him. "It is nice to see you."

"Albus," the man replied.

"Please meet Miss Rose Weasley and Mr. Harry Potter."

Aberforth nodded his head at them. "What can I get you?"

"A butterbeer for young Mr. Potter here, I am sure he will like it, and a glass of oak-matured mead for me. Miss Weasley?"

"A Firewhiskey, please," Rose said, then blushed. She remembered her father mentioning that drink quite often, and her mother always tightening her lips in these occasions.

Dumbledore chuckled. "That's it, then, thank you Aberforth."

Aberforth left and returned shortly with their drinks.

While Harry liked the Butterbeer very much, Rose couldn't say the same about the Firewhiskey. After drinking it, she closed her eyes with a screwed up face, shook her head, then quickly took a sip from Harry's glass.

"Hey!" Harry said, smacking Rose lightly on the hand. "I didn't take your drink, either."

"Oh, if that's the problem, I can get you a Firewhiskey, you know," answered Rose.

"Ugh, I don't want to have that ugly look on my face," Harry said, and he quickly drank what was left of his Butterbeer.

Dumbledore watched them and he started to calm down after the last two days' stress. He now felt quite ashamed of himself for attacking this nice young woman. He turned to Harry.

"Harry, would you mind having lunch here while I had a little chat with Miss Weasley upstairs?

Harry glanced at Rose and when he saw that she didn't protest, nodded.

"Alright, sir."

"Excellent. I heard they serve very good goat cheese here. Miss Weasley, if you please followed me."

With that, he went upstairs, and Rose followed her, while Harry started to think about what to eat. He was sure it wasn't going to be goat cheese.

Rose and Dumbledore entered a small room and sat down at a table in a corner on rather uncomfortable wooden chairs. They sat silently for a few minutes then Dumbledore spoke.

"Miss Weasley, please tell me what you know about the events of the last two days."

"I only know about what happened in the last twelve hours, after I rescued Harry from someone trying to kill him. But if you can tell me what events you are talking about, then maybe I will know something about them."

"Well, I guess I can tell you what I was referring to." And Dumbledore told Rose about the naked man attacking and killing several people, including Hagrid. Then he asked, "Do you by any chance know something about who this attacker could be?"

Rose was very sad to hear about Hagrid. She really liked the kind man when she was a child, and he was one of those she was eager to meet in this time. But now he was killed many years earlier than originally. She felt a new surge of hatred towards the Terminator.

"Yes, I do," she answered. "He was the same one who attacked Harry last night. He killed his uncle and was about to kill Harry when I arrived and interfered. I managed to get Harry and his other relatives away."

"I see. How exactly did you get away?"

"With a Portkey."

Dumbledore sighed. So that explained why the letter lost track of Harry. The girl also confirmed his suspicion that Hagrid's murderer was somehow in connection with Harry. That man killed six people in two days, and tried to kill at least one more. Dumbledore had seen much during his long life, but this level of cruelty made even him feel sick. He had to learn as much as he could about this man, and he had to stop him.

"So do you know who this man is?

"Yes. But it's not a man, it's a machine. Sent back through time to kill Harry."

Dumbledore wiped his sweating forehead with his handkerchief. The twinkle in his eyes were long gone. He motioned at Rose to continue.

And Rose told him about the future, about the wars against Voldemort and Skynet, and about travelling through time.

Dumbledore felt nauseous. Whatever he was expecting was not this. But one thing was clear, immediate actions needed to be taken.

"Well, I have to say, this is a most unbelievable story."

"Sir, I am telling the truth, and I don't have anything to hide. You can test me with Veritaserum, if you want."

"That is not necessary, Miss Weasley. I have means of knowing whether someone is lying to me, and I know you are not. I was only saying that it's very hard to accept these facts."

Rose felt relieved. It was very important that Dumbledore believed him. After some silence, the old man continued.

"Tell me, Miss Weasley, how can this Terminator be destroyed?"

"We used a special power-boosting ring attached to our wands which made spells intended against people to work against them. But I couldn't bring one with me, and without them, the spells barely affect them."

"I see. Can we make one of these rings?"

"I'm afraid we can't. It requires a certain part of a Terminator, and we don't have it. Actually, my mother invented this ring," she added, feeling the urge to boast a bit.

"Did she? Who was your mother, Miss Weasley?"

"Hermione Granger. She was a Muggle-born witch, and she'll be starting Hogwarts this year, so you don't know him yet."

"And I assume that your father was one of the numerous Weasley brothers?"

"That's right, it was Ron Weasley. He'll also start school this year.

"Very well, so getting back to our discussion, what are your plans, Miss Weasley?"

This was a difficult question. Rose had to admit to herself that she didn't really have specific plans. She won't tell Dumbledore, but she wasn't even supposed to be here, as Harry wanted to send Kingsley Shacklebolt back. This was why she contacted Dumbledore in the first place, that maybe he could help her decide what to do. But she had to say something to the old wizard, if she didn't want to look completely stupid.

"Professor, do you know why Voldemort didn't die when the Killing curse backfired on him?"

Dumbledore was taken aback by the question. It wasn't exactly related to his question, and he was caught a bit unawares by it.

"Well, I have a theory, but I can't be sure about it."

"It was because of the Horcruxes," said Rose. She knew that Dumbledore also knew it, just didn't want to say it, but she wasn't feeling up to playing little verbal games with the old man, so she just said the answer instead.

"Yes, that was my theory as well."

"He made seven Horcruxes and each had to be destroyed before he could be killed."

"Seven? I was thinking that he made six, so with the last part of his soul remaining in his body, he had his soul in seven parts, as he considered that the most magical number."

"Well, presumably he intended to make only six Horcruxes, but there was an accidental one. When he tried to kill Harry, he accidentally transferred part of his soul into him, so there was a Horcrux in Harry."

"Oh my God. That's my worst suspicion being true."

"Don't worry. They managed to get it out, and they destroyed the other Horcruxes as well. But there was one thing they thought was a Horcrux and destroyed it, but it wasn't, so there was one Horcrux left. However, Harry was still able to kill Voldemort after that."

"How was that possible?"

"This was something we found out many years later. It was the following: the last Horcrux was placed into a Muggle computer, the most advanced one, this Skynet. I guess you know what a computer is, sir?"

"I have a fair idea about that, yes. Please continue."

"So what happened was that as this computer was not a solid object, but it had very small and complicated components, and electricity was running in it, it somehow absorbed the Horcrux. After that it failed to act as it was supposed to, and it didn't keep Voldemort alive. But meanwhile it infected this computer which was used by the American army to control its weapons. So this computer of the most advanced technology combined with Voldemort's evil soul, decided to destroy the world and it almost completely did."

"How extraordinary," Dumbledore mused. "I never even considered such thing possible. Yet how brilliant it is in it's tragic sense."

"I'm afraid I don't understand you, sir."

"Let me explain. Voldemort, who despised everything having to do with Muggles, only used this Muggle computer as a Horcrux, because he thought it would be the safest, as no one will suspect what it is. And he was right in that. However, it never occured to him, that such a powerful magical object as his Horcrux, could be overpowered by something else, let alone a Muggle invention. Yet the computer stopped the Horcrux from serving its purpose, so the cause of Voldemort's downfall eventually was his great underestimation of Muggles. On the other hand, this Horcrux in that computer actually caused much more terror and destruction in the world than Voldemort himself intended. Of course, Voldemort had other goals besides ruining the world, the most important was to reach immortality, which he naturally failed, but in this particular goal of his, he finally achieved much more through his rogue Horcrux, then in his full power."

Rose didn't know what to say. She certainly understood what Dumbledore meant, and she could even see how it was funny in a very morbid sense, but she didn't think it was relevant in their current situation.

"So tell me, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore said, getting back to the thread," how was Skynet-Voldemort finally destroyed?

"It was my mother who worked it out," Rose said, with pride in her voice. "She worked out a process how to shut down Skynet completely once we could find its main controller. It was at its headquarters, which was Hogwarts castle." At this, she watched the Headmaster's face closely, but the man managed to conceal any emotion he must have felt. "So during the final battle, which was right before I came back through time, we occupied the castle, found the main controller, and Harry performed this process and destroyed Skynet."

"Could you tell me about this process?"

"No, I can't. My Mum died shortly after she made this discovery, and after that only Harry knew about it. He didn't tell anyone for safety reasons."

"I see. That makes things quite complicated."

"I don't think so. I don't think it's necessary to know this process. You see, while the Horcrux didn't work for Voldemort, there was still some connection between them. That must be why Skynet only came to life after Voldemort's death. The loss of the connection must have triggered it. So as long as Voldemort is alive, this Horcrux can be destroyed as any other Horcrux."

"Well, what you say is probably true, but it needs to be investigated. So what are your plans?"

"I think that we should either prevent Voldemort from making this Horcrux at all, or we should destroy it while Voldemort is still alive."

"Very well, Miss Weasley. I shall start researching the whole matter as soon as I can. But now I am interested in your short-term plans, especially regarding Harry."

"Oh, that," Rose said, a bit sheepishly. That was what she had no idea about. "What do you suggest, sir?"

Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a moment. "How much does he know?"

"I told him everything yesterday."

"Everything?"

"Well, not the complicated details about the Horcruxes, for example, but everything that happened and why it happened, in his past and also in the future, his role in the wars. I told him about the prophecy why Voldemort went after him..."

"You told him the prophecy?" Dumbledore asked disbelievingly. "Didn't you consider how much weight that put on his shoulders, at such a young age? That could have waited for some years."

"I don't think so, Professor," said Rose and her voice hardened. "I know for a fact that in the original timeline it caused a lot of problems that things were being kept secret from Harry for too long. And in the present situation with the Terminator, he needs to know everything even more. Don't worry," she added, seeing the look on the old man's face. "I knew Harry Potter as a very strong person back in my time, and when I met him last night, I found out that he already has that strenght. He can deal with all this."

"Very well," Dumbledore said. "So I think what we need to discuss now is best to be done when Harry is there as well."

"I agree, sir," said Rose, and she started to move towards the stairs. But Dumbledore's voice stopped her.

"Miss Weasley. One more question. Just to fulfil my morbid curiousity, what happened to me in your past?"

Rose looked in his eyes. It was hard to tell someone something like that face to face.

"You were killed. About six years from now, in the war against Voldemort. You were killed by one Severus Snape, on your own orders."

Dumbledore seemed speechless. Finally he pulled himself together and said, "Let's join young Harry downstairs.

Harry just finished his icecream when the adults returned. He had a very nice lunch and he was feeling rather full.

"Harry, we are about to discuss what we are going to do now. We thought you should hear it as well," said Rose.

Harry looked up in interest. He always dreamt about getting away from the Dursleys somehow, and although he never wanted it to happen the way it did yesterday, he was glad to be with Rose instead. And although he was still shaken by everything the girl told him, he still thought that his new life must be better then the one with the Dursleys.

"Okay, lets hear it, then," he said.

"Harry, I was going to suggest that you should come to Hogwarts this September at any rate," Dumbledore said. "It is of great importance that you receive the proper magical education whatever the circumstances are. And it will also do you good to get introduced to the magical society."

"Cool, I'd really like that," said Harry.

"I don't know," said Rose. "Will it be safe enough?"

"Rest assured, Hogwarts is probably the safest place there is. I will immediately make modifications to the wards so that no Terminator can get inside the school grounds."

"Okay, I can help you with that, if you wish. I know quite a bit about wards."

"I would appreciate that. So is this acceptable to you?"

"Yes, but under one condition. I want to be there with Harry, as a student."

"But you can't do that. You might pass with your appearance as a seventh year this year, but then what do you do in the next years?"

"Actually, I meant that I want to be in the same class with him, as a first year," Rose said.

"But that is impossible," Dumbledore answered.

"Why? Technically, I am a witch and I never went to Hogwarts before, so I can become a first year."

"That is correct, but I don't think you want to raise attention to yourself, and you becoming a first year student would be highly suspicious."

"Not if I change my appearance to look like a first year."

"Are you suggesting the Polyjuice potion? Because that's quite problematic, as you have to take it every hour."

"No, not the Polyjuice. I thought about using the certain type of ageing potion which allows you to look like your younger self. It has to be taken only once a day, and depending on the number of drops you take, you can look any age you want. So if I take twelve drops, then my looks will go back twelve years and I will look like when I was eleven."

"That sounds acceptable," Dumbledore said. "But I think you will need a new identity, as there are just quite enough Weasleys already at Hogwarts," he said, his eyes twinkling merrily again. "I suggest that you become Harry's cousin, the daughter of the Dursleys."

Harry laughed out. "Ooh, dear cousin, just imagine the look on your Mum's face when she finds out you're a witch. I think she'll disown you."

"Now, now, show some respect, little cousin, or I'll have to teach you some manners," she said, smacking Harry on the head. "Well, I guess that's alright then, Professor."

"Very well, so as the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I hereby inform you that you have been accepted to said school, Miss Rose Petunia Dursley."

"What?" Rose exclaimed, while Harry laughed again. Dumbledore chuckled.

"Don't worry," the Headmaster said," you won't have to use your nice middle name, if you don't want to."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This chapter contains extracts from chapters 6 and 7 of Harry Potter and the Phylosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone.

Chapter 5

Welcome to Hogwarts

1st September 1991

Harry and Rose arrived at Platform 9 and ¾ early, when there were only a few people there. They mounted the Hogwarts Express and sat down in a compartment, Harry by the window and Rose next to him. Rose now looked like her eleven year old self thanks to the ageing potion she took earlier.

The last month, although rather uneventful, was very exciting to both of them. Dumbledore suggested that they stay in a room in the Hog's Head. He didn't want them to come to Hogwarts so that they won't raise suspicion among the staff, and he also asked not to go wandering in Hogsmeade. It was also the Headmaster's request that they come with the train just like everyone else.

So basically they stayed in their room the whole time, but first they made a trip to Diagon Alley. They were both amazed by the place and all the magical shops. First they went to Gringotts and took out quite a lot of money from Harry's vault. Rose asked him to share it with her ("You know cousin, my parents raised you all these years, now you got to pay it back to me," she said jokingly, referring to her pretending to be Harry's cousin at Hogwarts.") Naturally, she didn't have any money in this time, nor, as a matter of fact, in the future, where money didn't have any function anymore. For this, Rose didn't consider its value much, and didn't refrain from spending, while Harry was happy to have something he could share, and even more to have someone to share with.

So they bought the best of everything, including all the school supplies, then every kind of clothes, broomstick, and some other little things that caught their eyes. Harry also bought a snowy white owl, and named her Hedwig.

They bought their wands, of course. In Rose's time there were no wandmakers, as Ollivander died presumably on Judgment day, but luckily the people got hold of his wand store, so children and those who lost theirs could be supplied with wands. Rose was hoping that her original wand had already been made by this time, and she was lucky. So now Rose had the very same wand she used her whole life. Meanwhile, Harry's wand became the one which had the same phoenix feather core as Voldemort's, just as Rose knew that this was Harry's wand originally.

After this trip, they kept to their room in the Hog's Head, and spent most of their time talking, mainly Rose telling Harry all sorts of things about the wizarding world. They also read their Hogwarts textbooks a lot. Rose was just as fascinated by them as Harry. In her time, children were taught by their parents and along a much more practical approach adapted to the lifestyle of the war, instead of the former scholar type of education. Of course Rose, with Hermione Granger as her mother, received quite a lot of theoretical education as well, but even that wasn't as detailed in the basic school material, but it focused more on the researches that Hermione and her group were working on.

Subjects like Transfiguration and Charms contained such basic knowledge of magic in first year, that Rose didn't think there will be anything new to her in those classes. But for example in Herbology she knew basically nothing, mainly because most plants simply didn't exist anymore in her time, just like most magical creatures. She was reasonably well trained in potion making, but her knowledge was quite different from what they will be doing at school. This was because in her time potion ingredients were very rare, so they were under tight supervision and the types and amount of potions that could be made were strictly regulated. It simply wasn't possible that a bunch of schoolchildren splashed around with potions every week. Then she didn't know anything at all in Astronomy, because they simply couldn't see any stars. And Defence Against the Darks Arts will also be new, as in her time they had to defend themselves against completely different things, the Terminators. She also knew that although she spent her whole life fighting and had a lot of experience, still even a moderately talented duellist would beat her easily as she never had any experience in fighting other people.

Rose made one more trip during August, when she returned Ron's wand to him. She felt guilty for stealing it from his father, and she didn't want to lend him in trouble, so she went to the Burrow and levitated the wand into Ron's room in secret. After that, although she wanted to go and look for the Terminator, she didn't think it safe to leave Harry behind, so finally they all stayed in the inn for the rest of the summer. They met Dumbledore a few times, and Rose told him many things about the future, and she also helped him make the school wards repel Terminators.

And now they were sitting on the train, silently watching as the platform was slowly filling up, and the hustle and bustle of different families. Rose quickly spotted the Weasley family, probably the most chaotic of all, and watched her father, uncles and aunt with her grandmother in interest.

Slowly every student got on the train, and it began to move. After a few minutes, a gangly red haired boy with freckles came in their compartment.

"Mind if I sit here?" he asked. "Everywhere else is full."

Rose stared at him in shock. She knew that this would happen soon, but she was still unprepared now that she came face to face with her father so suddenly. She forced herself to keep her expression normal.

"Sure, come in," said Harry to the boy.

"Thanks," said the boy, sitting down opposite Harry. "I'm Ron. Ron Weasley."

"I'm Harry Potter."

Ron stared at him. "Wow! Are you really? My mum mentioned it when I got my Hogwarts letters that you'd be starting this year, too. And – blimey!" he exclaimed suddenly, hitting his forehead.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing, it's just that I just realised something. You know, my little sister Ginny was really miserable that she couldn't yet come to Hogwarts, and all this time I thought that was because she didn't want to be separated from me, but now that I think of it, it was because she wanted to see you, the famous Harry Potter," Ron jabbered, and then he tried to look apologetic.

Rose could hardly hold her laughter back; this Ron was so much like his older self. Finally, she spoke.

"Well, Harry, that's love, it surely is."

Harry blushed furiously. "Hey! You don't know what you're saying."

But Rose just laughed.

"Shut up!" Harry said, then he turned back to Ron. "By the way, this is my stupid cousin, Rose. Rose _Petunia_ Dursley," he said, emphasizing her middle name as a revenge for her comment.

"Don't listen to him, Ron," she said. "It's just Rose. Don't I ever hear you call me Petunia," she warned him.

"Okay, so how about Tuney, then?" asked Ron in an innocent voice. Apparently, he didn't like Rose's comment about her sister, either.

"Oh, these boys!" Rose said and crossed her arms pretending to be offended, and they all started laughing.

They chatted amiably for a while, and when the food trolley arrived Harry bought all kinds of sweet. Ron explained to them about the Every Flavour Beans, then the Chocolate Frogs. They were looking at the various Famous Witches and Wizards Cards, like Dumbledore and Merlin, when Rose asked Ron something.

"Tell me Ron," she said with a wink," is there a card with Harry on it? He's supposed to be very famous."

Ron was about to say no, when he caught on. "Oh, of course there is. But he is still a baby on it, and he keeps crying and cooing, it's really sweet."

Then they laughed while Harry scowled at them.

Just then the door of their compartment opened again and three boys stood there. The one in the middle had blond hair and a pale face, the other two were quite large boys, and they stood behind him like bodyguards.

"Is it true?" the blond boy said. He had a drawling voice. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment. So it's you, is it?" he said, looking at Harry.

"Yes, it is," answered Harry.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy, carelessly waving a hand at the two big boys with him. "And my name is Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a slight cough while Rose frowned a bit. Malfoy looked at them.

"What, you think my name is funny? No need to ask yours. Red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford, you two must be Weasleys."

Although Malfoy' words were unmistakeably meant as an insult, Rose felt immensely proud. So she really did resemble her family.

Malfoy turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than the others, Potter. You don't want to go making friend with the wrong sort. I can help you there," he said, holding out his hand for Harry to shake, but he didn't take it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly. "And by the way, she here is my cousin."

Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "I'd be careful, if I were you, Potter. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and your Mudblood of a cousin, and it'll rub off on you."

Both Harry and Ron jumped up.

"Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you," Malfoy sneered.

"Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron.

"But we don't feel like leaving, do we boys? Not before I taught you some manners, Potter. Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either," Malfoy said and he reached towards Harry.

But he was stopped when Rose suddenly sticked her wand right under his nose.

"You touch him with a finger and I'll make sure that _your_ parents won't recognise your face when they see it next time," she said venomously.

"Potter, you always need someone protecting you, don't you. How pathetic," Malfoy managed to sneer, but he slowly backed out of the compartment eyeing Rose's wand warily. "So, we'll see you at the castle," he finished and they hurried away down the corridor.

Rose slammed the door shut after them, and sat back. She couldn't believe how could someone be so deliberately hurtful, let alone such a young boy. The first thing little children were taught in her childhood was that they must never, ever fight each other for any reasons. Simply no one could afford to have enemies among other people, because that could easily cost their life in the fight against the Terminators.

"You know Rose," said Ron, "you actually remind me of my sister. You even look a bit like her, and when she gets angry she can be just as scary as you were now."

Rose grinned. Ron's words made her bad mood over Malfoy disappear instantly.

"Well, I just don't like when someone insults my family or friends."

"Hey, you don't reckon we could be related somehow, do you?" he asked only half-jokingly. "With you being so similar to my sister, you know. And even Malfoy thought you were a Weasley, too."

Yeah, well, we are related quite a bit, thought Rose, trying to hold her laughter. But Harry, who also knew that Rose was a Weasley, couldn't hold his laughter back.

"Yeah, maybe we're all one big family, aren't we?" he said, and they all laughed.

The door opened once more, and Rose almost had a heart attack. A girl with bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth was standing in the door. Rose's mother. Meeting her was even more of a shock than seeing Ron, because he already saw Ron when she sneaked to the Burrow, and when she watched him on the platform. But this was the first time she saw her mother since she died in the future two years ago from Rose's point of view.

"Hi," the girl said, "has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she indicated the boy standing behind her.

"No," said Harry and Ron together, shaking their heads.

"Is there something wrong?" the bushy haired girl asked confusedly when she noticed Rose staring at her.

"N-no," Rose said quickly. "Sorry, I was just gazing. So, what's your name?" she asked to start a conversation, although she knew her name perfectly well.

"I'm Hermione Granger, oh, and this is Neville Longbottom here. And you?"

"Rose Dursley."

"Ron Weasley."

"Harry Potter."

"Are you really?" she said to Harry. "I know all about you, of course – I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "But nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard – I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough. I've tried a few simple spells also, just for practice and it's all worked for me – have you tried any?"

Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the

course books by heart either. Rose smiled inside. This was her mum, alright, although her older self didn't babble so much.

"Well, I tried to turn my rat, Scabbers yellow yesterday, but it didn't work," said Ron. "Look, I can show you."

He rummaged in his bag then got out a sleeping fat grey rat. He took his wand and cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

He waved his wand but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed grey and fast asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said Hermione. "Well, it's not very good, is it? Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You three'd better change you know. I expect we'll be there soon."

The train arrived to Hogsmeade station and the students got off onto the platform.

"First years! First years over here, please!" came the voice of a stern looking witch, and Harry, Rose and Ron joined her among with the other first year students.

The witch, who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, then escorted them to the Hogwarts castle by sailing through a lake in boats. Then she told them about the school houses and the sorting ceremony, and took them into the Great Hall. The older students were already there, seated at the four long house tables, and the Sorting Hat stood on a stool in front of the staff table.

After the Hat sang a song, Professor McGonagall said "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," and the ceremony began with "Abbott, Hannah" becoming a Hufflepuff. And after a few other students, it was

"Dursley, Rose!"

So Rose went forward, and put the Sorting Hat on.

"Well, well," said a small voice in her ear, "what do we have here? Very interesting, I haven't seen such a thing before. You took a very great burden on your shoulders, you know? And the reckless way you did it, that's definitely –

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat, and Rose, feeling relieved, joined the table on the far left, and was greeted by a red-haired prefect who, Rose realised with a jolt, was her Uncle Percy, whom she had never met before.

They were joined, one by one by Hermione, who sat down next to Rose, to her great delight, then Harry, who got the loudest applause by far, and finally Ron, who was very white by the time, and simply collapsed into the chair next to Harry.

After the sorting, and the fantastic feast, Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet.

"Ahem – just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.

"I have been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.

"Finally, I am pleased to welcome a new member in the staff. This year, our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be Professor Remus Lupin."

A young man with light brown hair, and quite shabby robes stood up to moderate applause.

Rose racked her brain. Something was wrong. She remembered Remus Lupin from her parents' stories. He was a friend of Harry's father, and he died in the war against Voldemort. He was a teacher for a year, all right, but that was in her parent's third year, not in the first. The Defense teacher this year should be a man called Quirrell, who is possessed by Voldemort, tries to steal the Phylosopher's Stone, and is stopped by Harry.

So it must be something the Terminator has done, that made Lupin a teacher this year. Rose added this to her mental notes of the things that need to be investigated. Now, that finally they were safely in Hogwarts, she can start working on saving the world.

The Terminator glanced at the sign reading "Little Hangleton" and acknowledged it as the human name of the area of his destination. He continued his way towards a big old house on a hillside. The house seemed deserted, and the Terminator didn't give it a high probability that he would find anything relevant there, but as his searches so far had been unsuccesful, and this place was on his list of significant locations, he tried it anyway.

He entered the house and he immediately heard voices with his sharp sensors coming from upstairs. He walked towards the sources of the voices, and halted just before the right door. The door stood ajar, so the Terminator peered inside, and it took quite a long time to process what he saw.

There was a human being inside, except that his appearence differed a lot from the description of human beings in the Terminator's database. This human had two faces instead of one, as where the back of his head should have been, there was another face. Apparently, the two faces were talking to each-other. The Terminator assumed that they were two humans built together, although he didn't have any idea as to how this was possible.

"Is the Elixir ready, Quirrell?" the face on the rear side of the human asked, in a high-pitched, hissing sound.

"Y-Y-Yes, m-master," stammered the other face. The man picked up a goblet from a table. There was a glinting red stone lying there next to it.

"Give it to me, now. I have waited long enough for this."

The man raised the goblet, and poured its contents down on the backside face's throat. Suddenly, white smoke covered the man, and the Terminator couldn't see anything of him. After a minute the smoke cleared, and the man's second face was gone. He now looked like an ordinary human, with the one face that was called Quirrell. However, there was also another man next to him, a tall thin man with red eyes and a snakelike face, the face which used to be on the backside of Quirrell.

Lord Voldemort has returned.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The War Begins

1st September 1991

Harry was sitting on his new four poster bed in his dormitory in Gryffindor tower feeling tired but very happy. His life had changed completely in the last month. He learned that he was a wizard, and that he was also very famous, for something he didn't even remember. Then there were all the things Rose told him about the future, the wars and his role in them. He knew that he should be worried about it, but he couldn't help not caring about it for the moment.

This was because there was a more important change in his life than all these. It was that for the first time ever, he had friends. There was Rose, who had grown really close to him this last month. She was like a guard, a mother, and a friend put together. When they first met, she saved Harry's life from the Terminator, then she told him everything about the wizarding world, and the future. Harry learned a lot from her during the time they stayed in the Hog's Head. But she was also a young person who joked a lot and was fun to be with.

Then today he finally came to Hogwarts, and so far it seemed a great place. On the train he met Ron, who became his first friend of his own age. He knew it from Rose, that in another lifetime Ron became his best friend and Rose's father, but still, actually meeting him, and seeing that he really was a good guy was much more than just hearing about it.

Harry looked around the dormitory, and watched as his roommates, Ron, Neville, Seamus and Dean rummaged in their trunks and chatted with each other. They all seemed nice people, and this place already felt more like a home to Harry than Privet Drive ever had.

He was about to stand up and start unpacking his trunk when suddenly terrible pain shot through his scar. He collapsed back onto the bed while his head felt like it was about to burst open. He heard a terrible cold laughing sound inside his head and then he knew no more.

Albus Dumbledore sat down in his office. The arrival of the students, the sorting, and the feast went well, but other things were troubling the aged headmaster. When he learned about the future from Rose Weasley, it naturally shocked him. But he has seen a lot during his life, as he played a leading role in the wars against Grindelwald and Voldemort, so he saw getting prepared to facing this Terminator thing and then Voldemort again as a challenge rather than something he should be sitting and worrying about. Although he didn't know yet how they should be stopped, but he knew that there was a way, and it made him determined instead of scared.

But there were things happening right know which made him helpless. The same day he met Harry and Rose, there was a break-in at Gringotts, and the Phylosopher's Stone he and Nicolas Flamel placed there was stolen. This was terrible news, as the Stone, which made you immortal and infinitely rich could cause horrible things if it fell into the wrong hands. And Dumbledore was sure that whoever robbed the bank for the stone, they didn't have good intentions.

There was also the problem of Quirinus Quirrell. The young man, who was to become the Defense teacher this year, disappeared around the same time as the time travelers arrived and the bank robbery happened. Dumbledore hoped against hope that the young man was alright, and that the three things – the arrival of the Terminator, the stealing of the Stone and Quirrell's disappearance – were not connected.

He was just thinking that he should ask Rose if she knew something about these things, when there was a knock on the door, and Professor McGonagall entered.

"Good evening, Minerva," he said. "What can I do for you?"

"I would like to talk to you, Albus, about one of our new students," said the Transfiguration professor.

"Very well, take a seat. I assume that the student you want to talk about is young Harry Potter."

"No, it's not him, although it's in connection with him. I was wondering about Rose Dursley."

Dumbledore was a bit surprised. He didn't talk about Rose Weasley's real identity to anyone, and they were to pretend that she is Harry's eleven year old cousin. "Is there something wrong with her?" he asked.

"Well, I was just wondering how she and Harry seemed to know each-other, and her surname is the same as Harry's relatives. Do you know if this is just a coincidence, or something more?"

"No, it's not a coincidence, Miss Dursley is the daughter of Harry's aunt, and they grew up together."

"But that's impossible, Albus, you know that," said Professor McGonagall, giving Dumbledore a sharp look.

Now Dumbledore was really surprised. Was there something that slipped their attention when they created Rose's identity? "Why do you think so?" he asked cautiously.

"Because I know that the Dursleys only have one child and that's a boy."

"We couldn't know that for sure. Maybe..."

"Maybe you didn't know for sure, Albus," Professor McGonagall interrupted him, her voice very cold now, "but as you can remember, before you took little Harry to his aunts' ten years ago, I spent a whole day watching the Dursleys, and I would have realised if they had two children instead of one."

Dumbledore scolded himself mentally. Of course, trust Minerva to remember details like this. He had to think something up quickly.

"Well, Minerva, I think –" he was saved by a loud cough from one of the portraits.

"Yes, Fortescue?" Dumbledore asked.

"Sorry to interrupt, Dumbledore, but the Fat Lady just informed me that the students are looking for Professor McGonagall. Apparently, Harry Potter has collapsed in his dormitory."

Voldemort examined his new body. He looked at his feet, then his long white fingers.

"My wand, Quirrell," he said finally. Quirrell gave it to him, and with a flick, Voldemort conjured up robes, and put them on. He then walked to a mirror in the room, and upon seeing his reflection, he gave a long, high-pitched laugh.

"Lord Voldemort is back. It's been a long time, but now the world will see how foolish they were to think that a little boy can defeat me."

"Congratulations, Master," stammered Quirrell.

"Come here, Quirrell. You served me well so far. For this, I will give you the honor of having the Dark Mark. Give me your arm," Voldemort said, and pressed his wand against Quirrell's left forearm. After a few seconds, a black snake appeared etched into Quirrell's skin.

Quirrell stepped back and bowed, but suddenly he gave a squeak.

"M-Master, there is someone outside the door."

Voldemort flicked his wand, and the door burst open to reveal a tall, well-built man standing there. Voldemort laughed.

"So, you saw everything, Muggle?" he asked.

"Yes," said the man, stepping inside.

"And aren't you scared?"

"I can't feel fear."

Voldemort's snakelike expression turned into a sneer. "You can't, can you? Well, I would find great pleasure in teaching you to fear Lord Voldemort, but I have more important business to do. Avada Kedavra!"

The green light hit the man on the chest, and he fell to the ground. Voldemort laughed again.

"With that settled, let's get back to business. Now we shall see, how -" but he stopped when the man slowly got up from the ground.

"Don't do that again," said the Terminator.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Voldemort, with a slight fear in his voice.

"That is irrelevant. We can, however, help each-other."

"Is that so? For your information, I neither give nor ask for help. I only accept service, and kill those who refuse me. Tell me what you can offer and I shall decide whether to spare your life."

The Terminator evaluated the possible answers. It was clear that this human was quite deluded about his power, but still, the Terminator needed his help, so he needed to say what the human wanted to hear.

"I can help you defeat your enemies and rule the world."

"How did you know where to find me?"

"This place was one of the possibilities."

Voldemort was nervous. He didn't plan his return like this, with a strange man knowing a lot about him, while he didn't even know who this man was. Yet he didn't seem particularly hostile, and he survived the Killing Curse, which meant that he must be powerful. He might become a good ally, once he learned some manners.

"Crucio!" Voldemort said, pointing his wand at the man. He knelt down, and his body was emitting sparks, but he didn't scream, and his body wasn't twitching madly. Voldemort lifted the curse, and the man slowly stood up.

"I told you not to do this," the Terminator said. Although the man's attacks weren't causing him any permanent damage, he wasn't going to allow them any more.

"Very well," said Voldemort. "I see that you are unnaturaly powerful. I will accept you among my followers for now. Come here, and you shall be presented with the honor of the Dark Mark."

"That is unnecessary. I am not your follower but your ally. And I need exchange for my help."

Voldemort couldn't believe his ears. Nobody dared to speak to him like that. Yet, he had to admit that he couldn't kill the man now, and also that he might be useful, so he decided to play along.

"And what is it you need in exchange?"

"I want to kill Harry Potter."

Voldemort laughed. That was one of the first things he wanted to do, too, so it wasn't a big request from the man.

"Very well. I shall see whether you prove yourself worthy enough and then I may grant your request. But now I have a task for you. You will go to the Ministry of Magic, and retrieve a prophecy for me from the Department of Mysteries."

"I am not programmed to follow your orders," replied the Terminator.

Voldemort lost his temper. "YOU WILL DO AS YOU ARE TOLD OR I WILL BLAST YOU INTO MILLION PIECES. NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT AND IF YOU ARE NOT BACK HERE WITH THE PROPHECY I WILL NEVER LET YOU KILL POTTER!" This last one was an empty threat of course, as Potter was going to die anyway.

The Terminator stood in silence for a few seconds. Finally he decided that this is the most he could achieve this time with Voldemort, so he said "I'll be back," and left the house.

Voldemort was satisfied that, as he thought that finally he managed to scare the man at least a little bit. He turned to Quirrell.

"Weird man, but he might become a useful servant. But now it's time to see my real servants. Give me your arm, Quirrell. Now we shall see... How many will be brave enough to return? And how many will be foolish enough to stay away?" And he pressed his thumb against Quirrell's Mark.

"Are you feeling better now, Harry?" Professor Dumbledore asked. They were alone in his office, as Dumbledore asked Minerva to go and get Rose Dursley.

"Yes," said Harry though his voice was still skaky.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"I don't really know. Suddenly my scar started to hurt, and then I felt very happy."

"Happy? Why?"

"I don't know. It wasn't really me, it was like someone else in my head. It wasn't a good feeling, it was very painful. And then I think I passed out."

The office door opened and Professor McGonagall came in with Rose. They both looked worried and Rose rushed to Harry's side.

"Harry, are you all right?" she asked, and Harry nodded.

"Albus, what is going on here?" said Professor McGonagall. "Why didn't you take Mr. Potter to the Hospital Wing and why did you ask for Ms. Dursley?"

"Please, Minerva, I will explain everything later, but right now I need to talk to Mr. Potter and Ms. Dursley alone. If you would kindly wait outside?"

"Fine," said McGonagall in a voice that made it clear that it was everything but fine, and she left and slammed the door shut.

"Harry, what happened?" asked Rose. Harry told her what he told Professor Dumbledore before.

"What could this mean, Professor?" said Rose to Dumbledore, sounding worried.

"I was going to ask you the same thing, as I am not sure myself."

"Well in my past, later when Voldemort was already back, Harry could sometimes feel his emotions, or even have visions of him, and that's when he was feeling this sick afterwards."

"So I felt this Voldemort being happy in my head?" said Harry, revolted.

"I don't know," said Rose, "I mean Voldemort can't be back now, he will be back only four years later, unless –" a terrible thought started forming in Rose's mind, but she couldn't finish it as the office door suddenly burst open, and Severus Snape was standing there.

"Headmaster, I need to speak to you immediately," he said.

"Ah, Severus, if you would excuse me, but I have some important matters to discuss with these students here, if you would kindly wait outside with Minerva –"

"No Headmaster, this cannot wait. I assure you that it's a lot more urgent than any little schoolchildren matter you are discussing with Potter and his counterpart."

"Very well, Miss Dursley kindly escort Mr. Potter back into his dormitory, and come and see me tomorrow during lunch break, both of you. Good night!

"Goodnight," murmured Rose and Harry, and they left. Dumbledore turned to Snape.

"So what is it Severus that couldn't wait any longer?"

"The Dark Lord has returned," said Snape.

Dumbledore sank back in his chair, looking very old and tired.

"How are you so sure?" he asked.

"My mark is back," said Snape, showing his left arm, "and it was pressed to summon us."

"That's my worst suspicion being true."

"What, you mean that you were suspecting this?"

"There were some disturbing signes lately. Anyway, we need to take immediate actions. Severus, go and tell Remus Lupin to come to my office. Also, notify the Minister to see me immediately, but make sure that he only receives it in an hour. Oh, and tell Minerva outside to fetch Ms. Dursley and come back to my office."

Snape left without any questions.

Professors McGonagall, Snape and Lupin and Rose were all sitting across Dumbledore and looking confused.

"I have some grave news to tell you," began Dumbledore, and Lupin, who kept glancing at Rose finally asked "Is it something with Harry?"

"No," Dumbledore said, "although it might concern Harry more than most of us."

Snape mumbled something that sounded like "I doubt it," and McGonagall said, "So may I ask why I had to take Miss Dursley with me?"

"Very well, I might as well start with this part. Miss Dursley is not Harry's cousin."

"What a surprise," said McGonagall sarcastically.

"Yes, Minerva figured this part out in about five seconds, but to the rest of the school, we need to keep her incognito."

"But why, who is this little girl?" asked Lupin.

"Her real name is Rose Weasley, and she is Arthur's granddaughter. And she is under a de-ageing potion, in reality she is 23 years old.

McGonagalls eyes were bulging. "Arthur's granddaughter, and 23? That's impossible, then who is her father? And why does she have to be undercover? What is going on, Albus?"

Rose was silently laughing inside. Dumbledore continued.

"I will explain everything, Minerva. You see, Miss Weasley here –"

"I am sorry to interrupt this merry social gossipping session," Snape said, "but I was under the impression that we had some more important matters to discuss."

"Actually, Severus, Miss Weasley, or shall we refer to her as Miss Dursley in order to keep up her incognito, plays an important part in the current situation, so we are supposed to discuss her identity first. As Minerva pointed it out, her age makes it impossible for her to be Arthur's granddaughter. That is because Miss Weasley isnt't even born yet. The young lady you see here has traveled back from the future."

And he told the shocked professors all about the future wars and the Terminator in their present. By the time he was finished, McGonagall and Lupin were looking at Rose with very grave expressions.

"But unfortunately, this is not everything," Dumbledore continued.

"What can be worse than all this?" exclaimed McGonagall.

"Lord Voldemort has returned."

"No!" shouted both McGonagall and Lupin." This time Rose looked shocked as well. "Already?" she said.

"I am afraid yes. As to how, I don't know. But I was hoping that Miss Dursley has some ideas about it."

"Well, it must be connected to the Terminator somehow," Rose began. "You see, in my past he didn't return until four years later, and everything that's different now than how it was in the, let's say, original timeline must be related to the Terminator or myself coming back and changing things. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, I guess I agree with that," said Dumbledore and the other professors nodded as well, though a bit uncertainly.

"So I don't know what exactly made Voldemort return this early, but I know some things that changed since the Terminator and I came back. First, that bastard killed Hagrid. In my time, he lived a lot longer, he was a good friend of Harry, and even I knew him in my childhood. Then you, Professor Lupin, were a teacher only in Harry's third year. This year the Defense teacher should have been Quirrell, and he was possessed by Voldemort, and in the end of the year he tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone, and Harry stopped him."

"The Stone!" exclaimed Dumbledore. "And Quirrell! He disappeared, that is why I had to hire Remus. And the Stone _was_ stolen this time, as sadly Hagrid couldn't take it to Hogwarts. This must mean that Quirrell took it, and resurrected Voldemort."

"Oh my God!" said McGonagall. "You-Know-Who has the Philosopher's Stone? But that means he is practically immortal!"

"He cannot be simply killed even without the Stone," said Dumbledore, "but I am sure we will find a way eventually. What I would like to know now, is that how would the Terminator and Voldemort interact? We know that they both want to kill Harry, does that help us, or not, Ms. Dursley?"

"I am afraid not. The Terminator doesn't have emotions, so it doesn't feel pride. His objective is to kill Harry, but it doesn't matter to him at all if someone else does it. So if he thinks that it's easier if he cooperates with Voldemort, then he will. On the other hand, the Terminator might have some secondary objectives, and given the special relation between Skynet and Voldemort, these objectives might concern him somehow. I don't know whether this means that they will be allies or enemies later, but regarding Harry, I am sure they will help each-other, or at least they won't stand in each-other's way."

"I see. So this is the situation. The minister will be here shortly, do you have any suggestions as to what we should do next?"

"I think we should get the old crowd together again," said Lupin. "You know, Alastor Moody, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher and so on."

"And we can recruit some new people as well," said McGonagall. "I know a few who are very capable and can be of great help."

"I would suggest," said Snape," that we make sure Azkaban is well guarded. The Dark Lord has a very large group of followers inside, led by Black and Lestrange."

"Sirius Black!" exclaimed Rose. "I completely forgot! He is innocent, Peter Pettigrew betrayed Harry's parents."

"My dear girl," said Lupin darkly. "I am sure you know a lot about the future, but in this case I happen to know more than you. Sirius was Lily and James's Secret Keeper, he betrayed them to Voldemort, and he killed Peter."

"No, it wasn't so. They only wanted everyone to believe that Sirius was the Secret Keeper, but it was Pettigrew. And he only faked his death, and now he lives as the pet rat of my father."

"Nonsense, Dursley," snapped Snape. "I know as well that Black was a traitor, and anyway, how could Pettigrew live as a rat?"

But Lupin has gone very white. "Rose, are you absolutely sure about this?"

"Yes. I heard this story many times."

"Oh my God! Oh, my my my…"

"Remus?" said Dumbledore.

"Albus, I don't know how to tell you, but back in our school time, James, Sirius and Peter all became unregistered Animagi, and Peter's form was a rat."

"You see, Dumbledore," said Snape, "I warned you not to trust him, and I was right about Quirrell as well. You shouldn't let –"

"Thank you, Severus, that will do. As soon as we are done with our more urgent matters, we will proceed into Gryffindor Tower and find out about Pettigrew. If Ms. Dursley's story is proven to be true, I will make sure that Sirius Black is released from Azkaban. But right now –"

The office door burst open and Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic burst into the room.

"Dumbledore, I don't know why you called me, but you've got to come and help. Someone broke in to the Ministry, and they've killed the guard and stolen a prophecy about the Potter boy and You-Know-Who from the Department of Mystreries.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: This chapter contains extracts from chapter 38 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Chapter 7

Meetings

2nd September 1991

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Returns

_In a brief statement on Sunday night, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned to this country and is once more active._

"It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord – well, you know who I mean – is alive and among us again," said Fudge, looking tired and flustered as he addressed reporters.

_"We urge the magical population to remain vigilant. The Ministry is currently publishing guides to elementary home and personal defence which will be delivered free to all wizarding homes within the coming month."_

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, member of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, has so far been unavailable for comment.

Lord Voldemort was furious. He only regained his body last night, and the Ministry already knew about it. This wasn't what he planned, he wanted to keep his return a secret for a couple of months, until he organised his followers once more. There was a traitor, and he had a good idea who it was. It must've been that strange man who somehow found him and pretended to be his ally. And he stupidly sent that man to the Ministry for the prophecy. This was a mistake, though it didn't really matter, he wasn't really expecting the man to succeed. He only wanted to get rid of the man for a few weeks with giving him such a task. Anyway, now he will have to find the man and kill him.

Just as he finished his musings, the door opened and no other than the big stranger was standing there. Voldemort stood up furiously and pointed his wand at him.

"You!" he shouted. "How dare you come back here?"

"I bought you your prophecy," replied the Terminator in a calm, even tone and pulled a small glass orb out of his pocket.

"What? You mean to tell me that in only a few hours time you managed to break into the Ministry, find the prophecy and steal it?"

"Yes," came the short answer.

"Ha! And you think I was going to believe this? You, little traitor, you thought I was so stupid that I wasn't going to realise that little orb you are clutching is a fake, and if you really were at the Ministry then it was only to inform them about my return? Remember, you cannot lie to Lord Voldemort.

The Terminator's processor was working rapidly. It couldn't find the explanation as to why this human thought what he just told him. Clearly, he lacked even average human intelligence. Nevertheless, it was essential that this human believed him, so he said the simplest thing he could.

"I am not lying."

Voldemort became uncertain. After his initial rage, when he started thinking he quickly realised that he had no proof at all about who the traitor was. Moreover, however unlikely it seemed that this man completed the task so quickly, it wasn't unbelieveable and the man did prove to have unnatural power. There was one way to get proof.

"Give me the prophecy, now," said Voldemort. The Terminator walked forward and handed the orb over to Voldemort, who said "Very well. I shall see whether you lied to me and I will decide your fate afterwards. Until then... Incarcerous!"

With his spell, ropes appeared and bound the Terminator. "Quirrell!" called Voldemort, and when the wizard appeared, he continued. "Take this man to the holding cells and guard him. Don't give him any food or water until I tell you."

The Terminator could easily have broken free from the ropes, but he decided that it was unnecessary yet, and allowed himself to be led away by Quirrell.

Meanwhile at Hogwarts utter chaos broke out in the Great Hall during breakfast time. The news of Voldemort's return started to spread from the older students who read the Daily Prophet but very soon everybody new about it, and quite a few started to panic. To add to the confusion, there were at least twice as many owl in the Hall than normal, as nearly every parent had written worried letters.

Finally, Dumbledore had enough. He made the student to be quiet and gave a speech. He announced that Voldemort had indeed returned, but that they were in no immediate danger here at Hogwars. He also told them that the Ministry and himself were taking every necessary step to defeat Voldemort before he can cause too much trouble. Finally, he announced that classes will only start the next day. This after all, lightened the mood of the students.

Dumbledore had a very long night. He finally managed to convince Minister Fudge that Voldemort was back. At first he said it was ridiculous, but after all, Fudge was frequently running to Dumbledore for advice ever since he became minister, so he finally admitted to himself that Dumbledore had no reason to make up such a story. It also helped that Fudge knew about the theft of the prophecy before he came to Dumbledore, which made the story even more believable. So, in a state of shock, Fudge agreed to everything Dumbledore suggested, including the strenghtening of Azkaban's guarding.

When Dumbledore told him that he will soon have proof of Sirius Black being innocent and that he must be let free, Fudge protested ("How will it look that just as You-Know-Who is back, we let his supposedly most faithful servant walk free? The public will have my head for this.") But Dumbledore told him that he will have the true culprit arrested, and after all it could look to be a success for Fudge, so he reluctantly agreed, and promised to send over an Auror to help with the capturing of the Death Eater.

Dumbledore wanted the Sirius Black-Peter Pettigrew business done as soon as possible, but he had to wait for the Auror, so he decided to do some other things in the meantime.

Harry, Ron and Rose were sitting in the boys dormitory and talking. The other first years were out enjoying their unexpected freedom.

"So you say that yesterday when you were er... well, when you, you know, collapsed, you actually felt You-Know-Who in your head?" said Ron in a half-awed, half-sympathetic tone.

"Yes, that's what Professor Dumbledore said, and it makes sense if it really was that time that Voldemort returned." said Harry.

Ron gasped. "Don't say his name! I would have thought that you of all people..."

"Sorry, I didn't really know..." Harry began, but Rose interrupted him.

"Don't be sorry, Harry. Even Professor Dumbledore said his name, and Ron, it's no good to be afraid of a name, that's only what Voldemort wants, to live our life in constant fear."

"Maybe you're right, Rose," said Ron, "but you don't know what it was like in the first war, but my parents told me a lot about it. People really lived in constant fear."

Rose silently gave a very dark laugh when his future father, the now eleven-year-old boy told her that she didn't know what it was like to live in a war. She hoped that this Ron will not have to experience even a fraction of what she went through. But she didn't say anything aloud and Ron continued.

"And you two are especially in big danger. I mean, Harry, you made him disappear ten years ago, he would definitely want revenge, don't you think?"

"Well, yeah thats's likely," said Harry, who already knew many details about the future war against Voldemort, so his sudden return didn't come as such a big shock to him.

"And you, Rose," continued Ron, "you are Harry's family, that makes you a target as well. And even if you weren't, you are Muggleborn, and You-Know-Who hates Muggleborns. His followers used to hunt them, there were terrible massacres. Complete families were wiped out."

Suddenly, they heard a gasp from the door. Harry called out "Who is there?" and the door opened slowly to reveal a trembling Hermione Granger.

"I... I am so... sorry," she stammered, "but I was looking for you and I... I heard..."

"What, you were eavesdropping?" said Ron rather aggressively.

"Ron, leave her alone," snapped Rose, "don't you see she's not feeling well?" And she went over to her, gently put her arm around Hermione's shoulder, and guided her to the bed she was sitting on. "What's wrong, Hermione?"

"Sorry, it's nothing really, I just wanted to talk to someone about You-Know-Who, and I thought I should talk to Harry because he already... well, because of the past, and I came up here and when I was at the door I heard what Ron was saying about the Muggleborns, and I am a Muggleborn as well and... and... I'm sorry, I didn't want to eavesdrop..." and she started sobbing into a pillow.

Ron tentatively stood up, slowly walked over, and finally patted Hermione's shoulders. "It's okay, Hermione, I know you didn't mean any harm. Er, I am sorry I snapped at you."

Hermione slowly looked up and nodded. Rose watched with silent amusement the display between her future parents.

Harry spoke up finally. "And don't worry about Voldemort, Hermione, you heard Dumbledore, we're safe here. And when it comes to that, we'll all be his enemies just as much as you, so we'll defend each-other, won't we, guys?"

"Yeah, sure," said Rose. "I'm sure Voldemort will be a lot more scared of four schoolchildren than one." And they all started to laugh.

"Git," said Harry finally, "when I said 'we' I meant the whole Hogwarts including Dumbledore, not just the four of us."

"I know, little cousin, I was just teasing you."

"Shut up, Petu -" he couldn't finish his sentence, as Rose threw a pillow at him. Ron and Hermione gave each-other an exasperated look at the display from the supposed cousins.

Just then the door opened and Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall entered, followed by a tall black man in Ministry robes, a man who Rose very well knew, and who, had Rose not disobeyed Harry in the future, would now be looking at his older self instead of her.

"Good afternoon," said Professor McGonagall. "This is Auror Shacklebolt. Mr. Weasley, could we have a word with you, please?"

Ron had gone very white. The Headmaster and an Auror looking for him of all people? He hadn't been here for a day, what on earth could he have done? McGonagall must have noticed his nervousness, because she added in a gentle tone, "Don't worry, Mr. Weasley, you have done nothing wrong. We only wanted to ask you if you had a pet rat."

"Oh, that – I mean, a rat," Ron stammered sheepishly. "Oh, yes, Scabbers, of course. But why? Er, Professor, I mean."

"Could we see him?"

"Er, yes, of course." And Ron picked up the sleeping form of the fat rat from his bed. "But what do you want from Scabbers, he's just a rat?"

"Mr. Weasley, we need to examine your rat, I'm sorry, I can't say anything else at the moment. Please give him to Auror Shacklebolt."

Ron did as told, but he was looking worriedly at Scabbers. Professor Dumbledore said, "Perhaps it's best if Mr. Weasley hears the truth. After all, this is his pet, he has the right to know. Come with us, Mr. Weasley, if you wish. And you too, Mr. Potter, if our suspicions are true, then this concerns you as well."

So completely confused, Harry and Ron followed the adults to Dumbledore's office. When they were there, Kingsley Shacklebolt put Scabbers onto the desk, and immobilised him, with a protesting cry from Ron.

"Don't worry, he's not harmed," said Dumbledore. "Now tell me Harry, do you know who is Sirius Black?"

"No, sir."

"Oh," said Dumbledore, and Ron interrupted.

"I know, sir, he's a criminal, he's in Azkaban for murder, and he's You-Know-Who's supporter. But what's he got to do with Scabbers?"

"Mr. Weasley, you will show a little more respect towards the Headmaster if you want to stay here, will you?" said Professor McGonagall.

"Sorry, Professor."

"That's alright, Mr. Weasley," said Dumbledore. "You were right about Black, or at least that's what I would have thought until yesterday. However, this might not be true. I will soon get to the point, but first you need to know the background.

"When your father, Harry, was at Hogwarts, his best friend was Sirius Black. Their two other best friend were your Professor Lupin and a boy called Peter Pettigrew. When you were a baby, and that prophecy which I heard you already know about was made, your family went into hiding. In order to hide, they used the Fidelius Charm, which is a magic that entrusts a single living soul with a secret. The secret can only be discovered if the Secret Keeper chooses to willingly divulge it.

"Sadly, your parents' Secret Keeper turned out to be Voldemort's spy, and he betrayed them to Voldemort. That's how he found you, killed your parents and tried to kill you. To our knowledge, this Secret Keeper was Sirius Black. Also to our knowledge, upon hearing of your parents death, Pettigrew confronted Black, but Black killed him, among with thirteen Muggles, by blowing up a street. Pettigrew's body has never been found, only a finger. Black has been given a life sentence in Azkaban and he has been there ever since."

Dumbledore paused and regarded Harry. He took this story rather well, although it disturbed him to hear about the way his parents were killed. He already hated this Sirius Black.

But Dumbledore continued. "However, recent information suggests that it might have been Pettigrew who was the Secret Keeper, and so it might have been him who betrayed your parents."

"But if he was killed by Black, how can we make sure?" asked Harry.

"It is also part of this new information that Pettigrew might not be dead. We have learned that he is an Animagus – a wizard who can turn into an animal – and when he was supposedly killed, he simply transformed and left a cut off finger behind."

And as he stared meaningfully at Scabbers, it was Ron who first realised what he meant. "No!" he exclaimed. "No, just because Scabbers has a missing toe, he can't be..."

"There is a simple spell to force an Animagus back into his human form. If he is really a rat, the spell won't do anything to him. Is everyone ready?"

When all of them nodded, he flicked his wand and Scabbers started to swell, and soon in his place stood a short, fat, balding man with a missing fingernail. His eyes darted onto the people in the room with a scared look. He was whimpering and tried to move, but he couldn't, as the immobilizing spell still worked.

"Administer the Veritaserum, Mr. Shacklebolt," said Dumbledore.

Kingsley pulled out a small vial, and poured the truth potion down a struggling Pettigrew's throat. Then he pulled out a parchment and a dictating quill and spoke for the first time in a deep, official voice.

"Interrogation of Peter Pettigrew on September the 2nd 1991 at the Headmaster's office of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Interrogator: Senior Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt."

And he started the interrogation.

"Is your name Peter Pettigrew?"

"Yes."

"Are you an Animagus with a form of a rat?"

"Yes."

"Are you registered with the Ministry of Magic as such?"

"No."

"Are you a so-called Death Eater, a member of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's organization?"

"Yes."

"Did you in the year 1981 participate as Secret Keeper in a Fidelius Charm performed in order to hide the whereabouts of James, Lily and Harry Potter?"

"Yes."

"Did you in the same year willingly tell the secret given to you in the aforementioned Charm to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"Yes."

"When you did this, were you aware that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named intended to use this information to murder the Potter family?

"Yes."

"YOU BLOODY TRAITOR!" shouted Harry. "I'LL KILL YOU!" And he lounged towards Pettigrew, but Dumbledore restrained him.

"Harry, please calm down," he said in a gentle but firm voice. "I know how difficult this must be for you, but we have to continue. I promise you that he will get the punishment he deserves."

Finally Harry nodded and sat back down. Kingsley continued.

"After the death of James and Lily Potter, did you go looking for Sirius Black?

"No."

"Did Sirius Black look for you?"

"Yes."

"Did he find you?"

"Yes."

"When he found you, did you accuse him of betraying James and Lily Potter?

"Yes."

"Did you deliberately do this in a way that passers-by heard it?

"Yes."

"Were you aware at the time that your accusations were unfounded?

"Yes."

"What did Sirius Black answer to your accusations?

"Nothing."

"How did he react then?"

"He pulled out his wand."

"When he did this, did you cut off one of your own fingers?"

"Yes."

"Did you deliberately do this in order that investigators later believe that you are dead?"

"Yes."

"Did Sirius Black murder thirteen Muggles with a blasting course?

"No."

"Did you commit the aforementioned crime?"

"Yes."

"After you did this, did you transform into your Animagus form and leave the place?"

"Yes."

"Have you for the last ten years live in your Animagus form with the Weasley family?"

"Yes."

"That concludes the interrogation. Peter Pettigrew, I am placing you under arrest with the charges of multiple murder and participation in terrorist activities. You will now be escorted to the Prison Azkaban where you will await trial."

And Kingsley stood up and levitated the still immobilised Pettigrew out of the office. When they passed Ron, the boy kicked Pettigrew in the shins while muttering "And I let you sleep in my bed!"

After they left, Dumbledore turned to Harry. "I am sorry, Harry, that you had to learn all this. However, there is a good side. You see, Sirius Black was not only the best friend of your father, but he became your godfather, and your parents appointed him your guardian should they be unable to raise you. So now that Sirius is proven innocent, the two of you can reunite."

This cheered Harry up considerably. He never had any proper family, as the Dursleys never behaved like a family should, so it made him very happy that he had a godfather.

"And when will they let him out of this Azkaban?" he said.

"I made it clear to the Minister of Magic that this is an urgent matter, so I suppose they will release Sirius tomorrow. And by the way, it is required that upon the release of a prisoner witnesses are present, and usually they are members of the prisoners family. As Sirius doesn't have any close relatives, it would be perfectly normal if you attended, that is to say, if you wish. But I have to warn you, Azkaban is a very unpleasant place, even for visitors."

"I don't mind, I want to meet my godfather as soon as possible. But sir, how can I get there?"

"An adult witness is required as well, so as a friend of Sirius I am sure Professor Lupin will be glad to accompany you."

Voldemort sat at his table, surrounded by his Death Eaters. He called a meeting together because he had some urgent plans. The Terminator was sitting there as well. Voldemort 'released' him after verifiying that the prophecy was real. In fact, he was quite impressed with his new 'follower.'

"Welcome, my Death Eaters," he began. "First of all, I would like to introduce our newest member. He wishes to be known by the name Terminator." The Death Eaters glanced curiously at the tall man, a few of them snickered.

"Silence!" commanded Voldemort. "Tomorrow he will get the chance to prove whether he is worthy of this name, as we will conduct a grand operation. The necessity of this action is arose from a very unfortunate situation. There is a traitor among us. Someone, whose first job after yesterday's meeting was to inform the Ministry of my return. If I find out who the traitor is, he will suffer my most severe displeasure."

The Death Eaters flinched nervously. They all remembered Voldemort's 'displeasure' from yesterday's meeting just after Voldemorts rebirth. The Dark Lord was very unhappy that none of his followers looked for him during his ten year long absence.

"But for now, thanks to this traitor, we have to speed up the rebuilding of our organisation considerably. Therefor tomorrow we will liberate my most faithful followers from Azkaban. Those, who unlike you were not afraid to go into prison for me. This will be a test for all of you. If you succeed, you will have gone a long way to regain my trust after the last ten years.

"The operation will be led by myself. There will be three groups, the two smaller ones will be led by Lucius and the Terminator..."


End file.
